One thing forgotten too easily after the madness that ensued post Mo’s injury......
They were in trouble beforehand. Our first team (which was missing at least Ox) had them penned in and we were in control.
I know it’s only xxxx minutes but it will get lost - we had the final in our grasp for the winning with a threadbare squad and an efficient but conservative midfield.
We just need the depth to make changes to influence the game - at the moment it’s for injuries / breather.
I was telling myself that we need to score and make this period count. At that point I really thought that we had won our battle with stage fright, if any. If I remember correctly, the Madrid players, Kroos (of all people) in particular, started making wayward passes and Trent started bombing forward. In fact he had a shot stopped by Navas. Robbo was also making his runs on the left and Henderson was dictating (sort of). I know people will laugh at this as it could be construed as clutching at straws. It was also evident based on that post match comments that the team believed that they could do it, which is heartening, because Jürgen has been battling to increase the players' belief in themselves for a long time.
In a lot of ways it was a bit like the City game at Etihad. Even though it was early in the season and despite the lack of squad depth, that red card put a full stop to any hopes of challenging for the title.
Like Virgil said, we are the object of ridicule as far as rival fans are concerned. But, deep down they must be jealous of everything concerned with LFC - the manager, the brand of football and the class that the players showed after losing to bad luck.
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