Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
- Jurgen Klopp’s return to Germany was a happy one last night as Liverpool earned a hard fought win against Hoffenheim in the Champions League Play-Off Round 1st leg.
- Two away goals are in the bag after victory last night but it was a win that they were certainly made to work for
- Hoffenheim will be thinking what if after they spurned an ideal opportunity to go ahead early on
- As early as the 11th minute they were presented with a penalty after Serge Gnabry was floored in the box by Dejan Lovren
- It was a clumsy tackle and one that would have had many Liverpool fans shaking their heads just as to why Lovren needed to go to ground
- Thankfully though he was rescued by his team mate Simon Mignolet who made easy work of the resulting spot kick
- Former Leicester forward Andrej Kramaric did take a particularly poor penalty in fairness but credit still has to go to Mignolet for diving the right way
- Liverpool were pinned back early on as their defensive frailties showed again
- They rode out the initial flurry of attacks from Hoffenheim and then started to find their feet
- With the tide turning, Liverpool would then draw first blood from something of an unlikely source
- They were presented with a free kick on the edge of the box 10 minutes before the break
- Up stepped right back Trent Alexander-Arnold who curled in a perfectly placed free kick into the bottom of the net to give Liverpool the lead
- Liverpool were now in the ascendancy and the goal had knocked the wind out of Hoffenheim’s sails
- Not only that but it was a vital away goal also and we all know how important they can be
- And they would have another by the end of the night when a slight element of fortune doubled their advantage
- With 16 minutes to go, substitute James Milner was in acres of space and fired a shot towards goal
- It took a sizeable deflection off of former West Ham defender Havard Nordtveit and cannoned into the net
- 2-0 Liverpool and job done
- Well not quite
- Because another late defensive lapse has made the return leg just that little more interesting
- Mark Uth halved the deficit with three minutes remaining to give Hoffenheim a glimmer of hope for next Wednesday
- Jurgen Klopp will be happy with the win but undoubtedly disappointed with the fact that his side conceded late on for the second time in as many games
- For all the positives they have in attack, there are negatives in defence
- Liverpool’s front three looked lively with Sadio Mane a constant menace while Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah both had chances of their own to get on the score sheet
- But at the end of the day if you were to offer Jurgen Klopp a 2-1 away win then I’m sure regardless of the performance he would have taken it
- They certainly rode their luck early on but ultimately were good value for their win
- The tie is no mean over though and Hoffenheim will fancy their chances of bagging an away win of their own
- That said they are going to have to score twice to have any chance of qualifying
- Here are the highlights
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