Liverpool thought they had the tie won in extra-time when Roberto Firmino scored his first at Anfield since April 9, 2019, against Porto, to establish a 2-1 aggregate lead. Yet from there the game simply got away from them as time slipped remorselessly by; with every Atletico Madrid goal, Liverpool's task grew exponentially.
First they needed to score one more in 23 minutes, then two in 15 minutes, then three with just a minute left. And Madrid know how to defend a lead like that. The moment substitute Marcos Llorente put them ahead on aggregate, Liverpool looked done. Ultimately, Madrid scored three in 23 extra-time minutes, as the European champions reeled.
Records fell, too. This is Liverpool's first Anfield defeat this season, the first here for Jurgen Klopp in Europe and brings to an end a run of 43 home matches without defeat. More remarkably it is the first time Liverpool have been eliminated over two legs in the Champions League since falling to Chelsea at the quarter-final stage in 2009. There are a few football grounds that claim to be fortresses. For Liverpool in Europe, that description of Anfield is no empty boast.
Yet Madrid are no ordinary opponents. They resisted enormous pressure. It was said Liverpool would need to match the intensity of their win over Barcelona to progress here, and for the most part they didn’t. Atletico survived 34 attempts on goal, including eight saves by Oblak who was wonderful. They won having enjoying less than 30 per cent of possession. This was the first time four goals had been scored in extra time of a Champions League tie – and that three of them went to the away team was an incredible feat.
It was a goal from Georginio Wijnaldum that sent the game into overtime. A minute before half-time a lovely, fluid Liverpool move involving Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – enjoying one of his finest Liverpool performances – whip the ball onto Wijnaldum's head. He steered it home perfectly – and no wonder given he had been doing just that in the warm-up before the game.
The second-half became Oblak's one-man show. He may well be the best goalkeeper in the world right now. Saves from Oxlade-Chamberlain, from Firmino, from Alexander-Arnold, kept Atletico in the game, and when Oblak could not come to the rescue, the apparatus did. Andy Robertson hit the bar with a header after Salah had a shot deflected.
At the other end, Adrian made his first real save of the night from Joao Felix, although it wasn't convincing and he needed to recover well to stop Angel Correa gobbling up the extras. That was the first portent. Atletico then thought they had won the game with the last touch of the match, but Saul Niguez was offside for his header. That was the second. This was still a dangerous side.
So it proved. Firmino headed a Wijnaldum cross against a post, then was first to the rebound to volley it home. Liverpool were leading 2-1 on aggregate and going through – for all of 167 seconds.
Unavoidably, Adrian played a huge part in the downfall. It is not right to say Liverpool would have won with Alisson in goal because Atletico Madrid are very, very good at what they do. But they might have won had Adrian not kicked the ball straight to Madrid's most dangerous player, Joao Felix, in the 97th minute. He played in Llorente, whose family are Real Madrid royalty. His uncle, Francisco Gento, holds the record for European Cup wins as a player, with six, to go with 12 Spanish titles. Now his nephew has his own sliver of history – starting with the shot that found out Adrian, the goalkeeper struggling to recover and well beaten.
Still, Liverpool only needed to score again – but then the roof fell in. They were desperately seeking the winner, so much so that when Atletico countered Liverpool's resistance was cursory – almost as if they didn't think the Spaniards would have anything more than the ambition to hold what they had. They had reckoned without Llorente. He ripped past Jordan Henderson and struck a low shot across Adrian.
Now Atletico were drawing on the night and Liverpool needed two. They were never likely to get them. Alvaro Morata put them out of their misery with a goal in injury time, finishing a neat one-two with a shot that defeated Adrian at his near post. He really had a poor night.
