Liverpool put up a sterling performance last night against Bayern Munich in Germany, beating the German powerhouse 3 – 1 to book their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals.
The result is akin, if not a better achievement, to the Juventus performance on Tuesday night where the Italians cancelled a 2 – 0 deficit to beat Athletico Madrid 3 – 0 on the night.
In another Champions League last 16 encounter at Nou Camp, Barcelona thumbed up Olympique Lyonnais 5 – 1 to sail into the quarter finals. The first leg in France had ended 0 – 0.
Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah and Firmino spearheaded Liverpool’s attack after withstanding Bayern’s forays that lasted barely five minutes. Mane found the net in the 26th minute after rounding up Bayern goal keeper Manuel Neuer to curl the ball into an empty net.
Bayern equalized 6 minutes to the end of the first half as Serge Gnabry’s low cross forced an own goal out of Joel Matip due more to poor defending from Liverpool rather than attacking pressure from Bayern. In effect, Robert Lewandowski of Bayern was frustrated all through the night, as Liverpool defence kept him constantly in check.
Defender Virgil Van Dijk headed a second goal for Liverpool in the 69th minute while Mane got his brace 6 minutes from time, a goal that clinically closed the 2018/2019 Champions League page on Bayern. Mane got a tailored floated pass from Salah and headed cooly into the far right of the post, with no chance for Manuel Neuer.
In Nou Camp, Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona to victory, scoring 2 goals and setting up 2 others.
Liverpool’s victory takes all four English teams into the Champions League last eight, while Germany and France are the only top European leagues that could not feature any team in the quarter finals. Portugal has FC Porto, Netherlands has Ajax Amsterdam and Spain has Barcelona.
The draws for the quarter finals and semi finals of the Champions League will be held tomorrow.