Kylian Mbappe has been near-unstoppable this season. At Anfield on Tuesday, he hit a roadblock. Again. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget on Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0 in the Champions League, and Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. But the France World Cup winner rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team that has been so defensively fragile for much of the campaign.
Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games and having produced the kind of form that is likely to put him in contention to finally win the Ballon d’Or award. But he managed just three attempts throughout the match, with none of them hitting the target. Vinicius Junior, too, was largely kept on the fringes of the action.
Liverpool coach Arne Slot said he had sharpened the focus of his players before the match by reminding them of goal contributions made by Mbappe and Vinicius this season.
“I told the players before the game they (Madrid) have scored 26 goals in La Liga and Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius have 24 goal contributions together,” he said. “I don’t think you can ever control these two completely, but you can do a few things well.”
Mbappe’s best opportunity came in the second half with Madrid trailing Alexis Mac Allister’s 61st-minute header. Receiving the ball inside box he shaped to curl a shot into the top corner — only for his effort to drift well wide of the goal.
It was a case of history repeating itself for Mbappe, who endured a miserable night at the same stadium last year when Madrid was again beaten by Liverpool in the league phase of European soccer’s elite competition.
On that occasion, Mbappe was guilty of missing a penalty that would have leveled the score before Liverpool went on to win 2-0.
At least he didn’t suffer the same indignity on this occasion, with Madrid kept well at bay by the Premier League champion.
Anfield is famed as one of the most daunting stadiums for away teams in Europe and a hostile atmosphere may have contributed to Mbappe’s struggles. The mood became even more intense when former Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold came on to loud jeers late in the match.
“I was impressed by the atmosphere throughout the whole 90 minutes,” Slot said.
It was the first time Madrid has failed to score all season and only its second loss in all competitions.
“I think we competed well,” Alonso said. “What was lacking today was perhaps (the ability) to hurt them in the final third and be a real threat.”
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