Liverpool He had everything in place to be leader of the Premier League. This Thursday he received Sheffield United, last in the standings with just 15 points and ten points away from salvation. Finally, the Reds won 3 to 1 to consolidate their lead during the 31st round.
Everything started in the best way for the team in which the Argentine Alexis Mac Allister -holder- wears the number 10 shirt. At 17 minutes, the goalkeeper Ivo Grbichired in the last transfer market since Atlético de Madridattempted a long punt under pressure from Darwin Núñez, Uruguayan striker for Liverpool. The ball hit the Uruguayan and entered the Sheffield goal, before the attentive eyes of the fans at Anfield. Sheffield, however, equalized with a goal down 19 minutes into the second half. But later, the world champion in Qatar 2022 He opened his right foot and launched an unreachable missile for Grbic, which became 2-1 for Liverpool. It may have been the Argentine midfielder’s most important goal at club level. Then, the final goal from the Dutchman Gakpo would arrive.
Núñez cared little about the fortune of his own goal, and celebrated it as if in that conquest there were half a title in the Premier League. The stadium did the same, which understood from the first moment the importance of the game. The English league has just eight dates left: all the points that Liverpool left on the way will be vital to winning the title. And it is already known that the team wants to win everything in the German’s “last dance” Jürgen Kloppthe coach who will leave office at the end of the season after having made history.
The statistics of the match, which at times was a contest between the ends of the table (the best against the worst), they were buried 19 minutes into the second half. A goal against Conor Bradley made the score 1-1. Until this Thursday, Liverpool had won the last six games against Sheffield United for the Premier League, with 13 goals for and just one against. The Reds wanted to continue the streak, just at the time of the season when they most needed the points.
The goal of Bradley It emboldened the visitors who, lost for lost, went with everything in search of victory. With 20 minutes left, they seemed to be the ones looking for the three points with more impetus than the locals, who are fighting with Arsenal y Manchester City for the title in the Premier League. The archer Caiomin Kelleher He had to make an effort to contain the rivals on a couple of occasions, as did the defense. Klopp added forwards on the field and entered Cody Gakpo rather Joe Gómez; Curtis Jones replaced Hungarian Dominik SzoboszlaI was looking for the play that would give the locals three points.
The overwhelming dominance of possession, which is already a main gene in Klopp’s teams, He did not give Liverpool enough clear plays to extend the score. The ones he had, for example, he wasted. With 15 minutes left in the game, Liverpool had had 20 shots, of which only seven hit the target. And one of them was a carom goal, scored by Núñez. But 31 minutes into the second half, Mac Allister, a true tractor in the middle of the field, found a loose ball and, unceremoniously, finished on goal. The ball entered the corner, without Grbic being able to even try to prevent the Argentine’s conquest. A true goal that could well be worth a Premier League. And he was about to convert the second of his personal haul in a free kick that Grbic saved just enough.
The game was decided two minutes from time, with Sheffield playing on the attack and its defense with cracks everywhere. The Dutch Cody Gakpo, one of Klopp’s changes, entered in a position of nine, rose higher than his marker and with a soft header placed the ball away from Grbic’s reach. The third goal brought peace of mind to Anfieldwhich saw how first place in the Premier no longer eluded them and they ended Thursday looking at the rest of the teams from the top. Liverpool, with a once again stellar Mac Allister, is going for everything.