While Liverpool’s elusive 30-year-wait for a first league title has now become a foregone conclusion, the Reds’ Champions League defence currently sits on the brink of collapse.
MADRID, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 19: Felipe Almeida Monteiro of Atletico Madrid and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool in action during the UEFA Champions League football match, round 16, played between Atletico de Madrid and Liverpool FC at Wanda Metropolitano stadium on February 19, 2020 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Oscar J. Barroso / AFP7 / Europa Press Sports via Getty Images)
Despite their relentless start to the season, Jurgen Klopp’s ‘mentality monsters’ were beaten by Atlético Madrid in the first leg of their last 16 tie on Tuesday night, leaving them with it all to do in the second-leg at Anfield on March 11.
The European champions returned to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium for the first time since winning the competition in the same venue last June but it proved to be a miserable homecoming as Saul Niguez’s solitary goal was enough to settle the spoils.
Atlético may be struggling in La Liga and 13 points off leaders Real Madrid but irreplaceable head-coach Diego Simeone vindicated why he is one of the great managerial minds in the game to dish-out only Klopp’s second defeat of the season.
And now according to FiveThirtyEight, Liverpool’s chances of reclaiming their European crown have now been slashed down to 14 per cent – seven per cent less than it was before kick-off in the Spanish capital.
MADRID, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 19: Virgil Van Dijk of Liverpool gestures during the UEFA Champions League football match, round 16, played between Atletico de Madrid and Liverpool FC at Wanda Metropolitano stadium on February 19, 2020 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Oscar J. Barroso / AFP7 / Europa Press Sports via Getty Images)
Bayern Munich and Manchester City have now usurped Liverpool in the rankings of the competition’s favourites although Klopp’s PL league leaders are being touted to turn their 1-0 deficit around in the Anfield replay and progress into the last-16 of the competition.
The statistical analytic site has calculated the Reds’ chances of progressing to a third consecutive UCL quarter-final at 54 per cent, while Atlético are being given a 46 per cent chance of advancing into the last eight of the competition.