Liverpool suffered a rare defeat in Spain on Tuesday night, courtesy of Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. The Reds conceded inside four minutes when Saul Niguez breached Jurgen Klopp’s defence to score the only goal of the game.
The Premier League leaders were left frustrated by the result, as despite having 73% of the possession (as per BBC Sport), they were unable to score a valuable away goal and now have it all to do at Anfield in the return leg.
Will Liverpool overturn Atletico Madrid's 1-0 lead at Anfield?
No
Yes
The Reds fans were left frustrated by what they perceived to be play-acting and referee Szymon Marciniak’s performance.
Shocking ref but let’s be honest we weren’t good enough tonight either. Needs to be better at Anfield
— jord (@The_Unbearables) February 18, 2020
Should be sent off for that awful play acting
— Mike Newell (@MikeNew1106) February 18, 2020
@Boyceym absolutely embarrassing behaviour
— Paul Hannigan (@76Hangman) February 19, 2020
Absolutely shambolic refereeing! Atletico players were dropping like flies, without even a swat!
— Iceman2762 (@kusanvinvin) February 18, 2020
@UEFA should be ashamed
— Alan Evans (@alansevans) February 18, 2020
Hey @UEFA … pathetic
— Philly C (@lfcamericanguy) February 18, 2020
Ath Madrid do know this is the UCL and not the Oscars, right? La Liga are full of best actor candidates
— Mikeshashimi (@Mikeshashimi) February 18, 2020
What do we think?
Despite the disappointment the Liverpool fans appear to be feeling after the first leg, we believe they can still be confident of overturning the narrow deficit at Anfield on March 11th.
To find an example of how strong the Reds can be in the Champions League in front of their own supporters, you only need to look as far back as last season when Klopp’s side turned around a three-goal deficit versus Barcelona.