The Times - UK (2022-04-05)

the times | Tuesday April 5 2022 61

Champions LeagueSport

Benfica v Liverpool

(4-3-3)

Liverpool

Benfica

(4-2-3-1)

Kick-off 8pm. Estádio da Luz, Lisbon

TV: BT Sport 3 Radio: talkSPORT

Ref: J Gil Manzano (Sp)

O Vlachodimos

A Becker

Gilberto A Grimaldo

N OtamendiJ Vertonghen

A Robertson T Alexander

-Arnold

V van Dijk J Matip

Everton

Gonçalo

R Silva Ramos

A Taarabt

D Núñez

J Weigl

L Díaz S Mané M Salah

T Alcântara Fabinho J Henderson

beat twice in the group stage — will not

seriously challenge over the course of

the next week was always guaranteed

to receive short shrift. “They kicked out

Ajax,” Klopp said.

Still, he has the rare luxury of a fully

fit squad to choose from and must have

one eye on the Premier League title

showdown with Manchester City on

Sunday at the Etihad.

Mohamed Salah was substituted in

the 69th minute of Saturday’s win over

Watford and has not scored a goal from

open play since the 6-0 dismantling of

Leeds United at the end of February.

Factor in, too, the disappointment of

missing out on qualification for the

World Cup with Egypt last week after

the defeat by Senegal in a play-off and

there could be a case for resting him

with Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino,

Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz all fit.

What is certain is that Salah will want

to play.

“These players will not come to me

and ask for a break so I have to pick the

moment,” Klopp added.

Relations between the two clubs

have been close in the past, with Liver-

pool’s victory in the final of the compe-

tition against Tottenham Hotspur in

2019 helped by a secret mission from

Benfica ‘B’.

Julian Ward, who is to step up and

replace sporting director Michael

Edwards in the summer, asked for the

Portuguese side to travel to Marbella,

where Liverpool were holding a

training camp.

With nothing left to chance, Ward

asked the Benfica technical director

Pedro Marques if the visitors could

replicate Spurs’ style.

Liverpool won the practice match,

which helped fill a three-week break at

the end of the season, 2-0 — the same

scoreline of their victory in Madrid

seven days later.

They should expect no such favours

in the Estádio da Luz.

Benfica are a huge club in Portugal —
they have won the European Cup twice,
in 1961 and 1962 — but in recent years
they have endured some difficult
Champions League campaigns. Few
supporters would have expected them
to get this far after landing in a group
with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
They beat Barcelona 3-0 in the group
stage, which was a historic result for
Portuguese football, even if Barcelona
were going through their own
struggles.
Not many pundits gave Benfica a
chance against Ajax in the last 16 as Erik
ten Hag’s side had comprehensively
beaten Sporting Lisbon, the Portuguese
champions, home and away in the
group stage. But they produced an
impressive performance to knock out
the Dutch champions 3-2 on aggregate.
Even so, there are no realistic expec-
tations that Benfica will get through to
the semi-finals against Liverpool.
Jürgen Klopp’s side have twice beaten
Porto comprehensively over two legs

Jürgen Klopp was sitting outside a
coffee bar in Lisbon when the call came
which he now readily accepts trans-
formed not only his career but his life.
Having left Borussia Dortmund at
the end of the 2014-15 season, he was
holidaying with his family in the Portu-
guese capital, enjoying a sabbatical as
the start of the new campaign played
out without him, and one of the few
phone calls he took was from his agent,
Marc Kosicke.
Mike Gordon, the president of Liver-
pool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group,
had contacted the intermediary and, by
the time the conversation was relayed,
Klopp’s time out of football was all but
over. Liverpool beckoned.
“We were completely in the holiday
mood,” recalled Klopp as he prepared
to revisit the city for tonight’s
Champions League quarter-final first
leg.
“There were some rumours
that we didn’t really follow
but with two sons around
they pick up pretty
much everything.
“The phone rings and
I didn’t pick up a lot of
phonecalls at that time
because my family was
around, so why should I
talk to anybody?
“But it was my agent, who is
my friend as well, and when he said,
yeah, Liverpool is calling, the boys were
looking at me, staring at me.”
Klopp said he mouthed “Liverpool”
silently back to his audience before
picking up the story again.
“And in that moment for them the
decision was made. Ulla [Klopp’s wife]
had to put the thumb up and it was just
clear we would do it because it just felt
right from the first second,” he added.

Lisbon hands

Klopp pivotal

moment again

“It was life changing, definitely.” For

Liverpool, too, with their lustre since

restored, both domestically and

abroad.

That the prospect of the quadruple

still looms large on the horizon perfect-

ly demonstrates the impact Klopp has

had, even if he wanted more and is

acutely aware of how his team are

walking a high wire, with one wobble

potentially closing off an avenue to

success.

“I would love to say we were [Premier

League] champions in 2019 as well but

we weren’t and I would love to say we

won the Champions League final in

2018,” the 54-year-old said.

“So that all would have been great but

I don’t judge my time here about the

trophies too much.

“I know everyone else is doing that,

but it is about the way we play and the

way we develop and the way the club is

and the position the club is in.

“That is much more important and,

at the moment, it is a healthy club

in a good situation and these

circumstances give you an

opportunity to focus on

football.

“I know the stories on

us are very positive at

the moment and rightly

so — the boys deserve it

— but we all know one

failure, one little wrong

step and at least one compe-

tition can be gone, so we have

to make sure.

“There is no problem for us. We don’t

feel that brave, we just feel ready for the

next challenge and that is all I need.

“But there is no big celebration about

the development of the club in the past

few years, just really serious work, and

I am very happy about that.”

The perception that Benfica — who

are third in the Primeira Liga, 12 points

behind the Porto side that Liverpool

Benfica v

Liverpool

Champions League

quarter-final, first leg

Kick-off: 8pm

TV: BT Sport 3

Radio: talkSPORT

Paul Joyce
Northern Football Correspondent

Familiar centre backs and coveted striker face acid test

during the German’s time in charge, so

Portuguese fans know what to expect.

premier league centre backs

Benfica’s success this season starts with

two former Premier League veterans in

defence — Jan Vertonghen and Nicolás

Otamendi. Vertonghen signed for

Benfica on a free transfer in 2020 after

leaving Tottenham Hotspur, while

Otamendi joined that year from

Manchester City. Together they have

formed a solid pairing.

One of the reasons they are doing so

well is their top-level experience. Ver-

tonghen played in a Champions League

final with Tottenham, while Otamendi

is used to playing against top teams.

That may be why the two defenders

make more mistakes in the Portuguese

Primeira Liga rather than in the

Champions League. The big three of

Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon

dominate most games in Portugal, and

there is usually a big step up when those

teams play in Europe.

For Otamendi and Vertonghen, play-

ing a small Portuguese side such as

Tondela is like a wet, windy night in

Stoke — they have more to prove on a

big stage such as Anfield. Both defend-

ers are 34 years old and they sometimes

struggle with balls played in

behind, given their lack of pace.

But Vertonghen is an accom-

plished passer, while Ota-

mendi is always willing to put

in a strong challenge. That

has helped the Argentinian

win over Benfica fans

who were uncon-

vinced given his past

with their fierce

rivals Porto — he en-

joyed great success

with them between

2010 and 2013.

It says a lot about his

performances that he

has become one of the

team captains, given the

prestige attached to the

armband — past Benfica

captains have included

the now-president, Rui

Costa, and the Ballon

d’Or winner Eusébio.

Now Benfica fans have

largely forgotten Otamendi ever

played for Porto.

striker coveted by top teams

Darwin Núñez has had a breakout

season as the top scorer in

the Primeira Liga and has

recorded 21 goals in the

league. The Uruguay

striker has shown he

does not crack under

pressure — he

scored the winning

goal against Ajax

in Benfica’s 1-0

second-leg win

and contributed a

brace in the 3-0 win

against Barcelona

in September — and

has been linked

with several top

teams.

Núñez is Benfi-

ca’s record sign-

ing, having joined for a reported fee of

around £20 million from the Spanish

side Almería in 2020. He lacked consist-

ency at first, but this season he has

brushed off his critics.

Núñez is very strong, has impressive

pace and is a great finisher. There have

been reports that Benfica are looking

for a fee of around £59 million for the

22-year-old and, if he wants to convince

scouts from bigger teams he is worth

that much, his performance against

Liverpool will provide the acid test.

a manager on borrowed time

Benfica changed their manager after

the Champions League group stage,

sacking Jorge Jesus and replacing him

with the B-team coach Nélson Veríssi-

mo. Veríssimo has made big calls, in-

cluding benching the former West

Ham United midfielder João Mário and

switching from a back five to a back

four, but it is widely expected he will not

be in charge next season. The man who

looks set to replace him is the PSV

Eindhoven head coach, Roger Schmidt.

Veríssimo will hope to mastermind an

unlikely upset against Liverpool.

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Eduardo Soares da Silva
Sports journalist, Rádio Renascença

Vertonghen and

Otamendi have a

solid partnership

PETER BYRNE/PA

Salah will aim to end a run of no goals from open play in his last six club games