Filipe Luis nets the winning penalty to end Liverpool's unbeaten run in pre-season in a pedestrian 5-4 shout out. Englishmen are renowned for missing penalties and Jordan Henderson was no exception to that rule failing to convert from the spot.
This started off as a cagey affair which was to be expected with the nine changes that Klopp made to the side that picked apart Bayern Munich the night previous. The Reds were without three of their attacking quartet for the first 45, Salah and Coutinho were rested and left out of the squad with Firmino replacing Mane at the start of the second half.
The absence of these essential figures in this Liverpool outfit was telling with Klopp’s sides’ main tactic to feed balls on to the head of Dominic Solanke. He came close to opening the scoring on the fifteen-minute mark, Ben Woodburn delivered an inviting cross into the English International’s path, but Solanke’s glancing header lacked the connection needed to trouble, Miguel Moya.
Liverpool dominated most of the possession and had the better of the game for the first 30 minutes, but their efforts were undone by a swift counter attack against the run of play. Angel Correa’s stooping header five yards from goal produced a remarkable save from Danny Ward, who pushed his initial effort on to the bar, but the Welshman will be disappointed with the slow reactions of his Liverpool teammates, who stood like statues and allowed Keidi Bare to nod home from point-blank range.
Klopp made six changes at the start of the second half to offer that Injection of pace and energy that the Reds were lacking in the first 45 and the new introductions showed some signs of improvement. On the 74th minute, Firmino’s clever back heel teed up Marko Gruijc nicely, but the Serbian international fluffed his lines from a promising position just inside the 18-yard box.
From a similar area of the pitch, Divock Origi two minutes later found himself with space and time but dragged his effort wide. Origi continued to cause problems for Madrid’s back four and his persistence paid off. Liverpool was awarded a penalty in the 80th minute, Origi was clipped inside the box, but his delayed reaction posed questions of the validity of the challenge from Gabi. Firmino made no mistake from the spot, sending Moya the wrong way and Liverpool’s late equalizer sent the match to penalties.
Both Firmino and Griezman converted coolly in the first round of the shootout. But Jordan Henderson failed to follow in the Brazilian’s footsteps, with his poor penalty comfortably saved by Moya. That proved to be the only miss of the shootout as Filipe Luis made it 5/5 for Simone’s men and his penalty secured the Audi Cup.
It was a different test for the Reds and many have been critical of how Liverpool aim to combat this type of defensive opposition this season, however, this criticism is perhaps unfair based on this encounter, with many of Klopp’s regulars sitting on the sidelines and wholesale changes, it is natural for his team to not be as free flowing the night previous when they brushed aside Bayern.
Liverpool now turn their attentions to their final pre-season fixture against another Spanish outfit Atletico Bilbao on Saturday.
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Man of the Match: Danny Ward
He was sensational tonight and that performance proves he could well be in contention for Liverpool's number 1 spot.
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Liverpool 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.
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Atletico Madrid XI: Moya, Vrsaljko, Gimenez, Lucas, Sergi, Kranevitter, Augusto, Thomas, Keidi, Correa, Vietto.
Subs: Werner, Savic, Juanfran, Filipe, Gabi, Gaitan, Torres, Griezmann, Olabe, Amath.
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