Empire of the Kop
·6. November 2024
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Yahoo sportsEmpire of the Kop
·6. November 2024
As one perhaps underappreciated Liverpool star was celebrated for his involvement in a Luis Diaz goal, so too should Andy Robertson be lauded for the Colombian’s final effort of the night.
The Colombian evidently brought his shooting boots for what was initially a tight contest between Arne Slot’s resurgent Reds and Xabi Alonso’s visiting Bundesliga champions.
The Spanish manager’s gameplan, which apeared to at least partly rely on nullifying the threat of Anfield’s atmosphere, certainly looked set to provide dividends up until the hour mark.
Unfortunately for Bayer Leverkusen, there’s just no accounting for genius of Curtis Jones’s world-class assist for our Colombian international’s opener – nor the No.7’s resulting finish.
(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
The Scotland international was a notable absentee from the starting XI ahead of the 8pm kick-off on Tuesday night.
Backup left-back Kostas Tsimikas was instead favoured to start the Champions League encounter, with the former introduced into the action on the 80th minute.
To give credit where credit is due, Robertson didn’t let his prior lack of involvement stop him from helping to settle the tie beyond absolute doubt in extra time (not that it needed it!).
Footage on Live 4 shows the fullback robbing possession before kickstarting the Liverpoo move that ended with Lwith Luis Diaz completing his hat-trick.
You can catch the clips below, courtesy of Live 4 & Amazon Prime:
A Luis Diaz HAT-TRICK! ⚽️⚽️⚽️ The perfect night for @LFC against Leverkusen at Anfield 🙌 #UCLonPrime–
The former Hull City man was benched once again after having no involvement in our 2-1 win over Brighton in the Premier League.
Robertson had skippered the side in the 3-2 win at the Amex Stadium back in the tail-end of October but was overlooked in favour of Kostas Tsimikas for Xabi Alonso’s return.
It doesn’t appear to be personal as far as Arne Slot is concerned. The Dutch head coach recently pointed to the left-back’s lack of a proper pre-season and the need to rediscover rhythm.
Given that our Greek international hasn’t put a foot wrong of late in the Scot’s absence, we’re not opposed to the boss allowing him to gradually acllimatise.