Red Star make reds see stars

Klopp says Liverpool lost 'mojo' and 'nothing clicked' in shock loss to aggressive opponents

Red Star Belgrade's Milan Pavkov (centre) celebrates his first goal against Liverpool after heading home from a corner. He later doubled his tally as the Serbian champions recorded their first Champions League win this season.
Red Star Belgrade's Milan Pavkov (centre) celebrates his first goal against Liverpool after heading home from a corner. He later doubled his tally as the Serbian champions recorded their first Champions League win this season. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

BELGRADE • It was a damning assessment of his side's performance when Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he was limited by "only 10 fingers" after he was asked what went wrong in the 2-0 loss to Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday.

He accused his team of making life too easy for the Serbian champions in Belgrade and warned that a repeat of the woeful display in their final two Champions League Group C games will jeopardise their hopes of advancing to the knockout stage.

Two Milan Pavkov first-half goals delivered a first win for Red Star in European football's elite competition since 1992, and Klopp also claimed that his men lost their "mojo" in the intense atmosphere inside the Rajko Mitic stadium.

"They were aggressive. They were aggressive in the last game (Liverpool won 4-0) as well, only then we did better," the German said. "We made life a bit too easy for Belgrade. That is the main problem.

"They deserved it with the passion they showed. They gave everything. For us, it was not clicking, it was not easy. We never came back into situations. We had the moments, we played good balls in, but then we had the ball in the box and could not really finish.

  • HOW THEY WERE LEFT RED-FACED

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    None of Liverpool's starting midfielders - James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana - won a tackle in the game.

    1

    The Reds' first shot on target came only as late as the 71st minute.

    2

    Liverpool have conceded more than once in the first half of a Champions League match for the first time since October 2014 (3-0 loss to Real Madrid).

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    Jurgen Klopp's men have now lost three consecutive top-level European away games for the first time since 1979.

"I saw a few games like this already and it is really difficult to find your mojo back. You can only do the right thing in the right moment. You have to be very natural.

"The boys are very disappointed, I'm very disappointed and we have to do better. We have to do better because we can do better, but tonight it is too late."

Winners of the European Cup in 1991, Red Star had not made it beyond the qualifying stages of the Champions League since the following year. But, roared on by a vociferous home support, they were inspired to condemn Liverpool to a second defeat in the group after the Reds lost 1-0 at Napoli last month.

It was also the Merseyside club's third consecutive away defeat in the Champions League - the club's worst run at the highest level of European competition since 1979.

Klopp denied the two successive away defeats this campaign have demonstrated an underlying problem with Liverpool's form away from Anfield.

"I don't say it is already serious if we lose twice, but we have to make sure it will not happen again. Otherwise, it will be difficult as the next game is already an away game (at Paris Saint-Germain)," he said.

"The last one is a very difficult home game against Napoli. We have to make sure you cannot ask that question again. It is too early to say that is how it is. We have to make sure we do better in Paris."

Liverpool visit PSG on Nov 28 before hosting Napoli on Dec 11.

Both teams battled to a 1-1 draw in the other match on Tuesday at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples.

Juan Bernat gave PSG a deserved lead in first-half stoppage time before Lorenzo Insigne levelled for the Italian side with a penalty in the 62nd minute.

The result, combined with Red Star's win, threw Group C wide open with only two points separating the four sides. Napoli top the group by virtue of their superior head-to-head record over Liverpool, with PSG and Red Star still in contention.

THE GUARDIAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 08, 2018, with the headline Red Star make reds see stars. Subscribe