In the very long time between those two shots, Salah and his teammates tried their luck many times, but not once succeeded. It is worth mentioning that 13 out of 15 shots that Liverpool have taken took place in the penalty area. However, with only 4 on target, it can only be said that Juergen Klopp’s students played very badly. And when eliminated, they should blame themselves for leaving the Champions League.

Klopp said Liverpool needed a better performance than the first leg to dream of a comeback. They did, at least in the early part of the game, putting great pressure on Real with intensity and speed. The expected 1.23 goal index greater than the 0.83 they had at Madrid last week also underscores the difference. There is, as James Milner sadly said after the game, “we did everything, other than scoring 2 goals.” And that is the reason why Klopp regrets, that his team “lost in Madrid, not tonight”.

The question is, why did Liverpool lose the consistency they had, and then put themselves in such a bad place? They have been playing erratically over the past several months and in a confusing way, always becoming less sharp when playing at Anfield. Wednesday night was the 7th of the last 10 home matches in all competitions, Salah and his teammates could not find the opponent’s net.

The goalless draw against Real at Anfiled officially turned Liverpool (red shirt) into a blank in the 2020/21 season.

Hope for a broken feat, Liverpool has to face the reality of an empty season. More seriously, they also risk not being able to re-export the Champions League to get revenge next season. The Kop has been drifting outside of the top 4 for 2 months now and 6th place, 2 points behind Chelsea, 3 points West Ham makes coming back a real challenge. Their journey will start at Leeds’ Elland Road at the weekend. And overcoming physical torture with players physically tired, mentally downhill after 90 minutes filled with disappointment and regret at Real will reveal how successful they are. .

But the challenge for Klopp has not stopped. The defeat against Real has shown that Liverpool need a drastic overhaul to upgrade the squad. 7/11 names in the starting lineup at Anfield have played in the Champions League final against Real in 2018. If not because of injury, this number is even higher. In the second half of the game, when the opponent regained the rhythm and Liverpool increasingly withered their ideas, the players Klopp brought into the field did not help improve the situation. So depth quality is also an issue.

However, Klopp’s summer revolution, in addition to the task of retaining stars like Salah and Sadio Mane, depends greatly on where Liverpool is at the end of the season. A vicious circle. And with that said, they can only blame themselves for falling there.

When Anfield was no longer a mecca

This is the 11th match this season (in all competitions), Liverpool failed to score goals. Amazingly, 9 of them took place at Anfield. Under the guidance of Klopp in the previous time, lasting more than 4 seasons, The Kop has only 9 times without scoring at home and no season more than 3 games.

“Liverpool played excellently, actively and created many opportunities. But this kind of match takes a few crucial moments. We don’t have, and we don’t have a goal. Finishing has been a problem for The Kop all this season., Said Klopp.

Chelsea advanced to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in seven years, despite a 1–0 defeat in the second leg. Surprisingly, in Tuesday night’s game, Thomas Tuchel’s side failed to score and Porto did just that. In theory, the Blues’ expected goal tcoring (xG) is 1.1 and Porto’s is 0.6.

The same happened during PSG’s match against Bayern at the Parc des Princes. The home side played better, creating an expected 2.1 goals that did not once put the ball into the net, eventually receiving a 1–0 defeat to Bayern with only 1.3 goalscoring ability.

Fortunately for PSG, they have built a very good foundation from the first leg with a capital of three away goals. It was also a strange result, because in reality, Bayern were the better team that day. Hansi Flick’s pupils made 31 tackles and an expected goal t3.6, while PSG were much lower, just 1.3.

Bayern were eliminated after making 45 shots in two legs against PSG

These figures show that the Champions League is really attractive, fierce and extremely unpredictable. The team that played better, created more chances is unlikely to have won, and the winner is unlikely to be the team to go on. The result depends on quite a few factors and luck is an important factor. But above all, don’t lose in the first leg.

This seems bad news for Liverpool and Dortmund, who are plotting a comeback. Especially when they played very disappointingly in the first leg. Liverpool had an expected 0.83 goals in a 1–3 defeat to Real, while Dortmund were 0.97 in a 1–2 loss to Man City. According to analysis from the Euro Club Index, the yellow-and-black team has only a 13% chance of going on. Liverpool are slightly higher at 15%.

History of course doesn’t stand for under-weakers. In 13 defeats in the first leg of the knock-out rounds in European competition, Liverpool were eliminated up to 11 times. Similarly to Dortmund, they were eliminated from the Champions League 6/7 times in the first leg.

According to analysis from the Euro Club Index, Liverpool have a 15% chance of going on

Sometimes the feat occurs, as in the 2018/19 season Liverpool won 4–0 against Barca to reverse the previous 0–3 loss. But you know, if it happened often people didn’t call it a feat.

Not everything against Dortmund and Liverpool, though. Unlike Bayern and Porto, they played the second leg at home, and at home indeed, Signal Iduna Park with Anfield, rather than on the ground.

In addition, the task of both is also simpler with 1 goal achieved away. This is a huge advantage. Of those who won 2–1 in the first leg of the Champions League at home, the number of teams eliminated (15) was more than the next (12). And Real, who have played in the European Cup 10 times, led 3-1 at home, but were eliminated four times.

Liverpool on a legendary night out against Barca in 2019

So anything can happen. But quite certainly, Liverpool and Dortmund were forced to be better than themselves a week ago. They don’t need to create a lot of chances often, but when it comes, even with a very small table-to-table ability, they have to immediately turn them into goals.

Finally, you know, Champions League success has to do with luck. Liverpool, like Dortmund, should hope it is on their side so that everything they do is correct. As in 2019 at Anfield, Georginio Wijnaldum coming on as a substitute for Andrew Robertson was perhaps the best decision Juergen Klopp had ever made, with Divock Origi suddenly making a hero and telling him from God that Alexander-Arnold launched an unprecedentedly daring corner kick.

A crazy result can only be made up of moments of madness, and every number is always for reference only.