Liverpool supporters have been pretty despondent in recent times after seeing their side suffer a third Champions League defeat of the season on Wednesday night.
Jurgen Klopp’s men went into their encounter with Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain sat second in Group C but just a point ahead of the French giants, who were looking to avenge their 3-2 loss to the Reds earlier on in the competition. And Thomas Tuchel’s side did just that as goals from Juan Bernat and Neymar inspired the hosts to a 2-1 success at the Parc des Princes, with James Milner’s penalty on the stroke of half time not enough to prompt a Liverpool comeback.
As such, there have been many disappointed Liverpudlians up and down the country in recent times, several of whom are likely to be interested in comments from ex-forward and now-Sky Sports pundit Craig Bellamy, who labelled their defeat to Red Star Belgrade as ‘the disappointing result’ in the group, and one that ‘was going to come back to haunt them’.
And given how easily they brushed aside the Serbian outfit at Anfield back in October, alongside the immense quality of the other two teams in the group in PSG and Napoli, Bellamy is spot on to underline the significance of that defeat in Belgrade at the start of the month.
Ultimately, the Reds were well-placed for qualification after winning two of their opening three matches in the group, with their trip to face Red Star on November 6 an opportunity to close in on a place in the last-16.
Yet Klopp’s men produced an insipid performance, arguably their worst of the season, to go down 2-0 in the Serbian capital – and with games against PSG and Napoli to come, that was always likely to be the crucial result, with Bellamy deeming the loss as ‘huge’.
And while the Merseysiders will no doubt fancy their chances against Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli in the final round of games next month, with Bellamy placing great emphasis on the ‘special’ Anfield atmosphere, one cannot help but think that, if Liverpool don’t indeed qualify, that defeat in Belgrade will be the reason.
It was always going to be difficult for Klopp’s men to go to both Paris and Naples and get a result, and while that proved to be the case in the end, they weren’t far away from doing so on both occasions, losing 2-1 last night to Tuchel’s PSG, and 1-0 to Ancelotti’s Napoli back in October.
And while Red Star haven’t exactly been the whipping boys in Group C in comparison to some other clubs in this year’s Champions League, the fact that they have picked up just one point from their other games, and indeed have a goal difference of minus nine, adds further fuel to Bellamy’s point – that game was a big opportunity missed by the Reds.
Yes, it’s far from over for Klopp’s men, but they would be in a markedly-better position, potentially even through to the knockout stages, had they put in a performance to get the result in Belgrade on November 6 – Bellamy is right to suggest that it could ‘come back to haunt them’.
Liverpool fans… what do you think? Let us know!
