6 1GG Saturday May 28 2022 | the times
thegame
Jürgen Klopp hasn’t made many
mistakes this season. In a campaign
that has stretched to its 63rd and final
game in Paris, he has handled
hundreds of big decisions with his
usual sure touch. His rotation of a
squad that presents more
permutations than ever before has
been shrewd.
His tactical adjustments and
bespoke big-game plans have been on
point. His gut instinct for the public-
facing parts of the job — how to
frame setbacks and defuse
disappointments — remains as strong
as ever. But we do know of at least
one thing that Klopp got horribly,
almost disastrously wrong: telling
Sadio Mané how to take his penalty
in the FA Cup final.
Preparing Mané for the task of
beating his international team-mate,
Édouard Mendy, from the spot, Klopp
encouraged his player to go against
his normal method. Mendy either
read the kick or anticipated the bluff,
and saved Mané’s effort. It could have
cost Liverpool the trophy, had Alisson
not saved from Mason Mount.
Afterwards, Klopp admitted that
Mané’s miss was “at least 50 per cent”
his fault. And yet, before a final that
certainly feels as if it could go to
penalties — there has not been one in
a Champions League showpiece since
Real beat their city rivals Atletico in
2016 — there is probably no manager
who you would rather have in that
situation, and no team who are
better at turning the wild crapshoot of
spot kicks into a cool-headed,
controllable science.
Liverpool have won six of their
eight competitive penalty shoot-outs
under Klopp (not including the
Community Shield), and five of the
past six. Maybe there are elements of
luck in that. But Geir Jordet, a
Norwegian sports scientist who is a
world-leading expert in the
psychology of penalties, believes there
are things that Liverpool, and
particularly Klopp, do which gives
them the best chance of winning in
the crucible of a shoot-out. For a
start, it’s clear that Liverpoolapproach shoot-outs with a degree of
forethought and preparation that is
not always replicated by their rivals.
Watching the minutes after the
whistle blew for the end of extra time
against Chelsea at Wembley, Jordet
noticed that Klopp seemed to have
settled almost immediately on his list
of takers, whereas Thomas Tuchel
spent several minutes making and
revising his selection. “The penalty-
takers were asked or told, they would
give their approval, there was
probably some information
exchanged about what to do, but it
was all delivered very quickly and
efficiently, which indicated that this
was planned,” Jordet says.
For Liverpool, the names on the
sheet are the end, not the beginning,
of a methodical process, one that
incorporates some cognitive training
work with the German neuroscience
company Neuro11. Whether or not
you believe in that sort of training,
the overall result is that Liverpool’s
players arrive at one of the most
highly pressurised situations a
footballer can face feeling unhurried
and as well-equipped as possible: a
small and simple win, but an
important one.
Having very quickly sorted out the
bare necessities of who’s taking when,Secrets of Liverpool’s sho
James Gheerbrant says
Klopp’s bum steer to
Mané was rare blip
for team who have
proved penalties
are no lottery
LIVERPOOL’S PAST TWO SHOOT-OUT TRIUMPHSJ Milner (scored)
Fabinho (scored)
V Van Dijk (scored)
T Alexander-Arnold (scored)
M Salah (scored)D Jota (scored)
D Origi (scored)
A Robertson (scored)
H Elliott (scored)
I Konaté (scored)
C Kelleher (scored)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910
1112
13
14
15
1617
18Milner (scored)
Thiago (scored)
R Firmino (scored)
Alexander-Arnold (scored)
S Mané (saved)Jota (scored)
K Tsimikas (scored)345141198
18
13(^16)
2
7
17
10
12
16 15
League Cup final v Chelsea FA Cup final v Chelsea
Klopp’s competitive shoot-out record
at Liverpool
Won^8 penalty shoot-outs Lost
6 2
HOW FINALISTS COMPARE
Liverpool Real Madrid
Goals scored
Goals conceded
Ave possession (%)
Total shots
Shots on target
Shots faced
Shots on target faced
30
13
63.31 51.22
200 178
73 68
80 181
28 65
14
28
The former Liverpool
and Real Madrid
coach analyses the
key areas of tonight’s
showdown in Paris.
Possession and
intensity versus
counterattack
In a Champions League final between
two great teams with great players
and great managers, one moment can
make the difference. But we can try to
V Junior (Real Madrid)
A Robertson (Liverpool)
M Salah (Liverpool)
T Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
K Benzema (Real Madrid)
Chances created by Liverpool and Real
Madrid players in Champions League
this season
22
31
21
19
18
analyse the match to
examine what may
happen.
The only team
similar to Liverpool in
terms of intensity that
Real Madrid faced on
their way to the final
was Chelsea in the
quarter-finals. Carlo
Ancelotti’s side suffered in both
games, but they were also clinical
on the counterattack.
This is a tactic that Real have
used quite a lot. In La Liga, Real are
used to having the majority of
possession, but this has not been the
case in European competition this
season. For example, in the two
games against Paris Saint-Germain in
the round of 16, they had 42 per cent
of possession in the away leg and
then 44 per cent of the ball at the
Bernabéu. They adapted and looked
to use the pace of Vinícius Jr in
behind the defence and the clever
movement of Karim Benzema to
catch their opponent out.
Liverpool have improved the
amount of possession they have in
the Champions League this season to
61 per cent and if Real avoid the first
line of pressing, then they can play on
the counterattack. They depend a lot
on Benzema, who has 44 goals this
season, and Vinícius Jr, who has 21.
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e also clinical
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RAFA BENÍTEZ
TACTICAL GUIDE
TO THE FINAL
We can say that Liverpool will have
more chances because they have
Mohamed Salah (31 goals), Sadio
Mané (23), Diogo Jota (21), Roberto
Firmino (11) and now Luis Díaz (6).
There is also Andrew Robertson,
one of the players with the most
high-intensity runs in the Premier
League. He is always going forward.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is also
offensively minded so that increases
Liverpool’s threat.
Alexander-Arnold
versus Vinícius Jr
A key situation will be the battle
between Trent Alexander-Arnold, the
Liverpool right back, and Vinícius Jr, the
Real left winger — and who has control
of this area of the pitch.
Will Alexander-Arnold attack as much
as normal, or will he be aware of the
threat of Vinícius Jnr and hold back?
When Liverpool travelled to Madrid
for the first leg of their quarter-final
during the pandemic last season, Real
targeted Alexander-Arnold by playing a
lot of balls in behind the Liverpool
defence. He made a mistake from one of
them, which allowed Marco Asensio to
score Real’s second goal in a 3-1 win.
But it is not only Alexander-Arnold
who must think about this situation.
Will Vinícius Jr follow Alexander-
Arnold all the time? Or will he wait high
in order to be a constant threat on the
counterattack? It does not matter if it is
a good or bad pass — if Liverpool are
positioned very high then Vinícius Jr can
run into the space, and he is faster than
all the defenders.
If he does that, then a team-mate such
as Casemiro must defend the areas that
Alexander-Arnold moves into. The
problem for Casemiro as the holding
midfielder is that Sadio Mané likes to
drop off and link the play. This means
that Casemiro will be very busy.
One solution could be for Real to
switch from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1, with
Eduardo Camavinga lining up alongside
Casemiro. This would bring legs and
energy to the midfield and provide cover
for Casemiro if he is having to focus on
Alexander-Arnold.