Match report: Atlético's bittersweet Champions debut | OneFootball

Another losing start in England, just like last year, where we seem to suffer a real curse on British soil. This time, victory was not possible in Liverpool, with the home side winning 2-1, leaving us with the feeling that a great chance was missed to start the competition on a better foot than we did.

We went from more to less, taking the lead with an early goal from (who else?) Marcos Llorente, once again showing that Anfield is his favorite ground for hurting the opposition.

Just a minute earlier, Barcelona could have opened the scoring, with Oblak preventing Liverpool’s goal, but in the 16th minute a great assist from Julián Álvarez to Marcos Llorente, who finished very well, put us ahead very early in the match.

And the Spider was decisive again in the 25th minute, when he could have changed the course of the match. Julián unleashed a well-struck right-footed shot onto the post, and Alisson managed to prevent the second, which would have written a very different story in the game.

From then on, Liverpool pushed forward and, between giveaways in midfield and a lack of solidity in defense, we were unable to go into the break with the lead intact.

In the 29th minute, Oblak denied Wirtz the equalizer with a great save (although offside had been flagged at the start of the move). Luck deserted us in the 40th minute, though, in a play that started with a turnover in midfield and, thanks to a couple of rebounds that favored Liverpool, Szoboszlai eventually equalized… and that was how we went into halftime (although Baena had a chance just before the final whistle).

The second half changed everything

A few minutes into the second half, Liverpool showed that the second goal was close. Barcola squandered a one-on-one with Oblak in the 49th minute, surprisingly failing to score.

But two minutes later, Mac Allister made no mistake with a thunderous strike from outside the box that Oblak did not see, which is why he reacted late, as the shot went right into the corner.

From then until the end, Atleti tried, but there were no clear chances for Alisson to stop, although Atleti did have more of the ball and Liverpool threatened on dangerous counters after winning it back. Iraola’s men controlled the match well once they had taken the lead.

As for the refereeing, it is worth noting that there were some hard challenges on our players that did not result in cards for the English side, as well as several incidents in Liverpool’s box where Atleti appealed for a penalty, without any decision going our way.

A goal disallowed for the home side late on kept hopes of an equalizer alive until the final whistle, but in the end the result was not the one we wanted. Even so, there are reasons to dream (including an improvement in the team’s play and the positive signs shown by the Spider, playing his first full match of the season from start to finish).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.