Micah Richards has claimed that Liverpool duo, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez, ‘didn’t have the greatest of games’ against AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday night, as he told Paramount+ on CBS Sports (15/09/21 at 10:10 pm).
Liverpool recorded a 3-2 win against the Italian giants, but at one point they were, unexpectedly, on the floor.
For large parts of the first half, the Reds were dominating, including opening the scoring early on and it could have been more had Mohamed Salah converted his penalty.
Then from absolutely nowhere, AC Milan found life and scored two goals in next to no time by carving the home team open.
In terms of goals, that was the lot for AC Milan, who would have rued how they started the game because they did start to grow into the match.
But with Gomez and Matip playing alongside each other for the first time this season, Richards was critical at what they produced.
“For the defending, I thought Gomez and Matip, they didn’t have the greatest of games,” said Richards.
“But let’s not take anything away from that finish (AC Milan’s first goal).”
Jurgen Klopp opted to rest Virgil van Dijk, and understandably so, given that games are coming thick and fast.
Plus, he has just come back from a long-term injury and someone like Gomez also needs the minutes.
The England international started his first game of the campaign, but he now faces a fight to push Matip out of the XI.
Apart from that crazy end in the first half, overall, given it was Gomez’s first start in a while in a competitive game, he did well and now needs to build up his minutes.
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