Liverpool’s Champions League hopes suffered a bit of a dent by losing to Real Madrid last night.
The 13-time European champions recorded a 3-1 victory over Jurgen Klopp’s side at the at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium, with the famous Santiago Bernabeu under construction.
And Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has criticised Reds centre-back Nat Phillips for his defending for a couple of the goals.
Vinicius Junior scored in both halves and on both occasions, Nicol feels that the 24-year-old should have done better when marking his man.
For the first, Vinicius lost a flat-footed Phillips to find Toni Kroos’s long ball, before volleying past Alisson, before then sweeping home his side’s third of the night just after the hour mark.
On that occasion, the big Liverpool stalwart could and probably should have been a little tighter to the Brazilian striker and here’s what Nicol told ESPN.
He said: “Today he showed his complete and utter lack of experience. Two goals he was involved in are starting positions and that comes down to experience. You can’t afford to have a player in such an important position who can’t get his first basic principle of defending right – starting position.”
The good news for Klopp’s side – who won the competition in 2019 – is that Mo Salah nicked a potentially huge away goal and therefore a 2-0 win at Anfield next week will be enough to see the reigning Premier League champions move into the semi-final.
As for Phillips, yes he could have played better but we’re talking about somebody who wasn’t expected to play a minute of senior football for Liverpool this season, last summer.
With the injuries to Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, Phillips – and others – have been thrown in at the deep end this season, but he has, for the most part, given a fine account of himself and he’ll be desperate to keep out the same player who thwarted him for the return leg on Wednesday.
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