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It was yet another painful sight for we Jurgen Klopp fans seeing him lose yet another final. After thrashing the German champions-Bayern Munich in Germany 3-0, one would have expected Liverpool to go all the way in the final and come out victorious, but they were not going to have it easy because they faced a formidable opposition in Atletico Madrid who are known for their stingy defence. Watching this game brought flashbacks of Liverpool’s Europa League campaign when they went all the way to the final in 2016 but lost that game 3-1 against Sevilla after a sensational 4-3 victory over Dortmund in the quarter final.
Liverpool suffered a penalty shoot-out defeat in the Audi Cup final against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, succumbing 5-4 on penalties after salvaging a 1-1 draw late on in normal time. Atletico Madrid’s goal came from Keidi Bare who opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark, nodding home on the rebound from close range after Danny Ward-who had a good game, had made a tremendous save from the initial effort.
Liverpool’s best chance in the first half came from new-boy Dominic Solanke’s header which drifted wide; both teams struggled to get men forward regularly as aggressive challenges from both teams made sure the play lost its fluidity. Klopp had hoped after the Bayern game that Atletico will go easy on their fiery approach as this was just a friendly game, but that wasn’t the case, this saw Liverpool respond in kind.
Liverpool went close to scoring early in the second half through a deflected cross by new-boy Andrew Robertson, Atletico’s Angel Correa attempted a 40-yard free-kick which went off target. The introduction of former Liverpool star Fernando Torres late on in the game was greeted with a loud cheer as the Liverpool supporters got to see their former player in action once more but this time, he was wearing the opposing team’s jersey.
Liverpool finally got the equalizer when Divock Origi was brought down in the box, and the referee awarded a penalty which Roberto Firmino buried into the net inside the last 10 minutes. That goal forced the game into a penalty shoot-out. Jordan Henderson missed his penalty for Liverpool while Atletico was able to convert all five of theirs. The shoot-out ended 5-4 in favour of Atletico Madrid which saw them lift the Audi Cup.
For Liverpool, Firmino, Origi, Kent, and Grujic scored their penalties.
For Atletico, Griezmann, Torres, Gabi, Gaitan, and Luis scored their penalties.
Atletico Starting XI
Moya; Vrsaljko, Gimenez, Lucas, Sergi, Krenevitter, Augusto, Thomas, Keidi, Correa, Vietto.
Subs
Werner, Savic, Juafran, Filipe Luis, Gabi, Gaitan, Torres, Griezmann, Olabe, Amath.
Liverpool Starting XI
Ward, Flanagan, Gomez, Klavan, Milner, Can, Wijnaldum, Lallana, Woodburn, Mane, Solanke.
Subs
Karius, Mignolet, Firmino, Origi, Henderson, Grujic, Robertson, Matip, Kent, Ejaria, Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool will now focus their attention on the start of the English Premier League. They play their first game on 12 August 2017 away against Watford. Atletico Madrid will play their first La Liga game of the season on 19 August 2017 against Girona FC.
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