£11.75m Liverpool player shines yet again; he’s the unluckiest player at Anfield

Follow us on Google Discover

Liverpool have advanced past Benfica in the Champions League with Kostas Tsimikas once again showing his quality at left back.

With a 3-1 first-leg lead, Liverpool were in the box seat anyway and took a first-half lead through Ibrahima Konate.

It proved to be a strange night though as Goncalo Ramos pulled Benfica level before a Roberto Firmino brace.

Benfica gave Liverpool a scare in the second half with Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Nunez scoring, but Liverpool go through with a 6-4 aggregate win.

Villarreal await in the semi-finals with Liverpool’s squad players turning in a decent display against Benfica.

Arguably the star of the show was left back Tsimikas. Brought in for a rare start in place of Andrew Robertson, Tsimikas didn’t disappoint.

The Greek international picked up two assists in a fine display. Konate headed his first-half corner into the net before Firmino grabbed his second from a Tsimikas free kick.

Tsimikas has only started 17 games this season but has racked up five assists – a very impressive record. It’s now four assists in his last four appearances for Liverpool.

The stats look great for Tsimikas against Benfica; two assists, four key passes, two successful dribbles, two tackles and five free kicks won – more than any other Liverpool player.

It says a lot that Tsimikas won the Player of the Match award despite Firmino’s brace.

When you see Tsimikas perform like this, in a Champions League knockout game, you start to feel he may be the unluckiest player at Liverpool.

The £11.75million signing from Olympiacos has shown time and time again that he is a quality left back – one that would be starting for many Premier League teams.

Yet the likelihood of Tsimikas starting for Liverpool any time soon is slim because of Andrew Robertson’s presence.

The Scot has been vital for Liverpool over the last four years and at 28, he’s unlikely to drop out of the side for a while yet.

That ultimately leaves Tsimikas sat on the bench, playing in cup games or used in dead rubbers like the Benfica game.

Tsimikas turns 26 next month, so maybe there is time for him to emerge past Robertson in the coming years.

As it stands though, you watch Tsimikas and are torn; half impressed with his displays and half feeling a little sorry for him that Robertson will be ahead of him.