Champions League briefing: Liverpool prodigy wins Mbappe battle, Bellingham booed, USMNT pair shine

By
James BAOUCH
-
0
2

Last night at Anfield was supposed to be about a battle between two attacking superstars but Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah fluffed their lines.

Instead, the battle between two of European football’s two giant clubs was dominated by some lesser names.

For Liverpool, it was homegrown players Conor Bradley and Caoimhin Kelleher who took star billing as Salah missed a penalty while Real’s other big-name players were unable to help out Mbappe as the home side ran out 2-0 winners.

There was also crazy late drama in Eindhoven and a piece of history in Bologna.

Here are the big talking points from tonight.

Have Liverpool got a homegrown Alexander-Arnold replacement?

Liverpool supporters might soon have to picture life without Trent Alexander-Arnold. And last night it did not look too bad.

With the Merseyside-born full-back’s contract due to expire at the end of this season, his hometown club remain hopeful that he will commit to an extension. But should he choose to try his luck elsewhere, Real would appear to be his most likely free-transfer destination.

So last night, with Alexander-Arnold on the substitutes’ bench as he continues his recovery from injury, it was a chance for Bradley to stake a claim as a long-term successor.

The 21-year-old, who followed the same path as Alexander-Arnold through the Anfield academy, probably dreamed of playing on huge occasions like last night.


Mbappe handing the ball to Bradley (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

But when he was turning out as a substitute for Bolton Wanderers in front of 2,381 people in the unglamorous English Football League Trophy in November 2022, he probably did not expect to be thwarting Real superstar Mbappe and then laying on a superb goal in front of a packed Anfield just two years later.

Yet that was how it turned out last night. Early in the first half, Bradley drew acclaim from the home crowd for a superbly-timed challenge that ended a powerful break by Mbappe.

Then in the second half, he showed he is more than just a rugged defender with a brilliantly-weighted pass to set up Alexis Mac Allister for the opening goal.

Video for UK audience

Video for U.S. readers

Mbappe’s frustration continued when he had a penalty saved by Kelleher and Salah then blasted another spot kick wide for Liverpool before Cody Gakpo eventually scored Liverpool’s second.

It all meant that, with two rounds of games remaining, Real might not even reach the knockout stage, which was probably not what UEFA had in mind when they changed the format of the competition.

Why was Bellingham booed at Anfield?

Jude Bellingham is greeted as the golden boy almost everywhere he goes but Anfield was in no mood to roll out the red carpet for the England midfielder.

In fact, the Real Madrid star was booed for much of the evening by a lively home crowd as he failed to inspire the Spanish giants to victory on Merseyside.


Bellingham sits on the pitch during Wednesday’s game (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

The reason for the jeering is probably a little nuanced, but the main reason was almost certainly the fact that Bellingham moved to Real Madrid despite Liverpool’s interest in him. There is also the added factor that Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold are close friends in the England squad so, if the Liverpool full-back is seriously considering Real’s advances ahead of a possible free transfer, it seems inconceivable that he will not pick Bellingham’s brains.

The former Birmingham youngster was public enemy No 1 at Anfield, although his side’s defeat probably bothered him more than getting the bird.

USMNT pair shine in comeback for the ages

If you were a fan of PSV Eindhoven and decided to leave the Philips Stadion early last night with your team 2-0 down in the closing stages, you probably won’t do it again.

If you were a viewer in the United States who switched over from the same game at the same stage, you might think twice in the future, too. Because the ending to the game in the Netherlands was crazy… and very American.

It seemed to be going the way of Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk when they led 2-0 thanks to goals from Danylo Sikan and Oleksandar Zubkov in the first half.

Even the second-half sending-off of Shakthar’s Pedro Henrique seemed to have made little impact when his side still held their two-goal lead on 87 minutes.


Pepi (right) celebrates his late winner (John Thys/AFP via Getty Images)

But it did. U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Malik Tillman scored to give his side hope and spark a finish that was frankly crazy. On 90 minutes, Tillman scored again to level for his side and the Americans were not done yet.

Ricardo Pepi, another U.S. international, popped up to score a winner for the home side five minutes into added time.

Video for U.S. readers

If you left early to beat the traffic, did you enjoy your extra 10 minutes at home? And if you switched over, were any of the other games really worth it?

But a moment USMNT defender will want to forget

Champions League nights at Celtic Park are always memorable. But USMNT defender Cameron Carter-Vickers would prefer to forget the latest one.

The former Tottenham Hotspur player scored an own goal for the ages to hand Celtic’s opponents, the Belgian side Club Brugge, a bizarre leg-up in the form of a 1-0 lead in the first half.

With the two clubs jostling for places in the middle section of the 36-team league, Celtic began their latest home game with designs on climbing above their opponents to solidify their spot in the group of clubs between ninth and 24th, who will take part in play-offs for places in the last 16.

So having one of their own defenders beat goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel with a shot that nestled perfectly in the bottom corner was… not ideal.

Brugge’s pressing in the 26th minute was admirable but it did not really get Carter-Vickers off the hook for one of the more bizarre own goals the Champions League has seen.

Video for UK readers

Video for U.S. readers

Schmeichel’s positioning when Nicolas Kuhn rolled a pass into Carter-Vickers did not appear ideal, but he could not really have expected the defender to sidefoot the ball past him and inside the far post.

Kudos to Celtic captain Callum McGregor, who immediately called an impromptu huddle with the aim of lifting his team-mates and ended up raising the home crowd too.

But it was tough to recover from such a crazy self-inflicted wound.

A moment of history for Lucumi – and Bologna

Jhon Lucumi is not a well-known name in European football but the Colombia striker now has a permanent place in the history of Bologna.

The Italian side are playing their first campaign in the Champions League in its modern iteration, having last played in its predecessor, the European Cup, 60 years ago. And in the first four runs of matches, they had not managed to score a goal.

Lucumi changed that with the club’s first-ever Champions League goal on 63 minutes of their home game against Lille, cancelling out Ngal’ayel Mukau’s opener.

The joy lasted for just three minutes before Mukau struck again with what proved to be a match-winning goal to leave Bologna still without a win and with just one point.


Lucumi celebrates his goal (Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Wednesday’s results

What’s next?

Round six of the eight-round group stage begins on Tuesday, December 10, with nine games.

  • Dinamo Zagreb v Celtic (5.45pm GMT/12.45pm ET)
  • Girona v Liverpool (5.45pm GMT/12.45pm ET)
  • Atalanta v Real Madrid (8pm GMT/3pm ET)
  • Bayer Leverkusen v Inter (8pm GMT/3pm ET)
  • Brest v PSV Eindhoven (8pm GMT/3pm ET)
  • Club Brugge v Sporting CP (8pm GMT/3pm ET)
  • RB Leipzig v Aston Villa (8pm GMT/3pm ET)
  • Red Bull Salzburg v Paris Saint Germain (8pm GMT/3pm ET)
  • Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich (8pm GMT/3pm ET)

(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)



Read the full article here

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here