Liverpool Suffer Shocking 2-0 Defeat At Red Star Belgrade
By Max Wise
Liverpool suffered their second defeat of the 2018/19 Champions League campaign on Tuesday with a shocking 2-0 loss at Red Star Belgrade.
The defeat, powered by Milan Pavkov’s first-half brace which included an outstanding second goal, means Red Star Belgrade have avenged the 4-0 thumping suffered in the hands of the Reds in the Group-C match day-3 game at Anfield a fortnight ago.
Even more is that it deals a huge blow to Liverpool's chances of making the knockout stage of the competition.
The result at the Rajko Mitic Stadium, which represents the hosts' first in this year's edition, keeps Jurgen Klopp’s men with six points and gives Vladan Milojevics’ Red-Whites some hope of also making it out of the group as they now have four points.
The hosts started the game strongly and caused problems for Liverpool from the early minutes, and of course, with the loud cheering from the home crowd who remained vibrant till the end of proceedings.
Vujadin Savic shot wide in the 12th minute, and Daniel Sturridge picked the ball in space in the 17th minute, but shot narrowly wide from inside the penalty box, three minutes before the Liverpool striker missed a good scoring chance by heading an inch-perfect cross over the bar.
Alisson Becker palmed El Fardou Ben’s close-range goal-bound effort to corner in the 22nd minute, and the hosts would score from the resultant kick when Milan Pavkov jumped highest to head in Marko Marin’s corner kick.
That spurred on the visitors who continued to dominate possession with the visitors stuck in their half and relying on counter breaks.
Milan Pavkov earned Red Star Belgrade, something for their dominance by shrugging off James Milner’s tight challenge to make space for himself before powering a thunder strike from long range to beat the helpless Alisson Becker.
Georginio Wijnaldum had a goalbound shot blocked to safety in the 31st minute, and Adam Lallana would close the half with a fruitless strike when he rose to connect with a lofted pass inside the box, but Milos Degenek deflected the shot to safety.
Jurgen Klopp made two quick changes at the interval by bringing on Roberto Firmino for Daniel Sturridge and Joe Gomez for Trent Alexander-Arnold in an attempt to salvage something from the game.
Liverpool enjoyed possession but found it hard penetrating the ironclad Red Star Belgrade defence.
Vujadin Savic deflected Sadio Mane’s 57th minute goalbound shot to safety, Mohamed Salah hit the left post with a rebound from just outside the box in the 72nd minute, seven minutes before the Egyptian saw another goalbound strike cleared off the goal-line.
Mohamed Salah had an opportunity to raw a consolation three minutes into injury time when the ball fell his way just outside the goal area. The Egyptian could, however, not beat Milan Borjan, who pulled a stunning save.
