‘The sheer unbridled stupidity…’
Liverpool have one foot in the Champions League final.
A 5-2 victory over AS Roma means Jürgen Klopp’s side will go to the Eternal City with a three-goal advantage next week, well fancied to complete the job and book their spot in the Kiev final.
The Italian side were completely outclassed for the first 70 minutes at Anfield, with Liverpool ruthlessly exploiting their surprisingly high defensive line. Mo Salah scored twice in the first half, before Sadio Mane added a third before the hour mark. Two more goals from Roberto Firmino made it 5-0, seemingly ending the contest.
With Salah withdrawn for the game’s closing stages, Roma did manage to pull two goals back courtesy of Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti’s penalty. Although a 5-2 scoreline would normally seem relatively safe, Roma’s miraculous second leg comeback against Barcelona in the quarter-finals serves as a reminder for Liverpool supporters that the tie isn’t *completely* over just yet.
Most of the match would have been difficult to watch for supporters of Liverpool’s fiercest rivals, Manchester United. But those two late goals for Eusebio Di Francesco’s side did offer them a glimmer of hope. They also – to the person responsible for the United Report Twitter account, at least – were an opportunity to compare Jürgen Klopp’s ‘bad management’ to that of Jose Mourinho’s.
Mourinho has been criticised at times this season for the defensive approach he’s used in some of United’s more important games. But, as the tweet below makes clear, such tactics would have helped Klopp close out the game.
To use the game as an opportunity to praise Mourinho, who was widely criticised after United’s last 16 exit to Sevilla, is quite strange. Unsurprisingly, the tweet was widely mocked in the replies, with plenty pointing out that a Mourinho side probably wouldn’t have been five goals up in the first place.
Jose Mourinho wouldn't have been leading 5-0.
— GeorgeWeahsCousin (@WeahsCousin) April 24, 2018
This. If Liverpool winning 5-2 in a CL semi final isn't proof of Mourinho's greatness, I don't know what is. https://t.co/doDItDPeHd
— Kristian (@vonstrenginho) April 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/Jass_Smra/status/988888102684028928
The word 'if' is doing a lot of work here for those of us who watched the two legs against Sevilla.
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) April 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/caparsebiscuits/status/988917190345797632
Some are deluded 😅 .. not the managers fault .. although the team did switch off a bit towards the end and it's given Roma a lifeline .. same scoreline as last round they'll come out firing. If its 5 nil the games buried but nothing to do with klopp 😅
— Terry (@VivaLaTez) April 24, 2018
