By Austin Chen
As kickoff approaches, Liverpool fans will be confident that manager Arne Slot’s men can avenge their 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of this fixture from nearly a month ago.
That match already felt like an outlier in an otherwise impeccable debut season for Slot on the touchline. The two sides’ fortunes have only diverged further since then, with Liverpool leading perennial bridesmaids Arsenal by six points at the top of the Premier League table and with Spurs ten points off the drop.
Injury and reinjury have plagued Spurs throughout this season from hell, and those symptoms flared up ahead of today’s match: among the laundry list of players not available for this vital clash, manager Ange Postecoglou announced yesterday that Mickey van de Ven would not be available.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s incredible depth hasn’t even been tested. Their main stars — captain Virgil van Dijk and the inevitable Mohamed Salah — have started or appeared in nearly all of Liverpool’s matches this season.
Everything is still to play for, however, and Spurs will cling to their 1-0 aggregate lead like a man to driftwood floating in the English Channel.
34’ — 1-0 Liverpool, 1-1 on aggregate
https://streamff.com/v/5aed5b18
Well, it was certainly coming. The Reds have been relentless in their pressure, pinning Spurs in their own half and forcing some desperate defending. Cody Gakpo applies a vicious first-time finish at the back post from a Salah trivela that bounces past everyone in the six-yard box before finding the unmarked Dutchman’s right foot, firing the ball past a diving Antonin Kinsky.
45’
Liverpool fans have been in great voice since the goal, and Spurs fans will be desperate for the halftime whistle to ring out and give their exhausted players a reprieve. Kinsky has been tested again and again, and has made some smart saves and operated smoothly with the ball at his feet.
45 + 1’
And the reprieve doesn’t come quite in time. Richarlison goes down with some sort of injury, and Spurs’ other notable January signing — forward Mathys Tel — makes his debut, likely a bit sooner than he expected.
51’ — 2-0 Liverpool, 2-1 on aggregate
https://streamff.com/v/6cc4f046
Relentless. That’s the only way to describe the Reds coming out of the break, and Darwin Nunez is the first one to make a splash — thanks to a wonderfully weighted ball from Salah played on the counter. Kinsky raced out of his goal to make a play on it, but was fractions of a second late. Nunez goes over, referee Craig Pawson points to the spot with no hesitation, and Salah — who else — steps up to the spot.
It’s a rude penalty — no other way to describe it. Kinsky might as well have not been in goal at all; Salah fires an unsavable shot with pace and power into the top left corner, turning the tie on its head.
Let’s see how Spurs respond.
57’
As the hour mark approaches, Postecoglou finally decides he doesn’t like what he’s seeing and makes two changes: Lucas Bergvall for Pape Sarr and Pedro Perro for Yves Bissouma. The decision is nakedly in search of some attacking thrust, two holding midfielders off for players who love to get forward. More than anything, however, Spurs have struggled to complete two passes in a row — let’s see if the Swede and the Spainard can change that.
62’
The subs have had an immediate impact. Spurs aren’t just seeing more of the ball, they’re actually stringing passes together and getting up the field.
72’
Well, that didn’t last very long. Liverpool have seized control of the game again, turning up their pressure in Spurs’ half and patiently building up. Spurs have reverted to giving the ball away cheaply, and the Reds are taking advantage. Kinsky might be fading now after being called into action so many times, and an awful pass from the keeper leads to a deep throw and a Nunez shot into the side netting.
The Anfield supporters are back in good voice now, which makes sense given how dominant their team has been in this recent stretch. They nearly erupt when Gakpo makes a slaloming solo run down the left edge of the six-yard box and very nearly makes it 3-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate. Kinsky makes up for his previous error with a fingertip save, barely pushing Gakpo’s effort onto the right post.
75’ — 3-0 Liverpool, 3-1 on aggregate
https://streamff.com/v/db3a63e7
Speaking of things not lasting long, this game is over. Slot clearly wanted to put this match on ice in the 72nd minute when he subbed on Diogo Jota for Darwin Nunez and Alexis Mac Allister for Curtis Jones, and those choices pay off when their reshaped front line waltzes through Spurs’ exhausted defense and Dominik Szoboszlai wraps the game up with a finish in the bottom right that’s far easier than it should have been.
Spurs’ wait for a first major trophy since 2008 will have to continue.
80’ — 4-0 Liverpool, 4-1 on aggregate
https://streamin.me/v/5rvfh9q7
Well, if for whatever reason fans in the away section were holding on to a shred of hope, they might as well start the long trek back to North London. On what feels like Liverpool’s hundredth corner of the game, Mac Allister sends a textbook cross into the six-yard box, and van Dijk simply outmuscles and outleaps the Spurs centre-backs and nods home a simple header that Kinsky never had a chance at.
90’
With the full-time whistle only minutes away, there’s not much to report. Liverpool keep on pushing for a fifth, and despite Spurs’ desperation to get at least a consolation goal, the closest they get is an Heung-min Son effort smashed off the crossbar.
Full-time
Liverpool take on Newcastle in the final on March 16, and Spurs’ seemingly endless wait for silverware will have to be cured by an FA Cup or Europa League trophy — but with the way this season has been going, that seems unlikely.
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