Roberto Firmino and Dejan Lovren, two ends of the spectrum on a magical Anfield night
If Roberto Firmino encapsulates Liverpool best moments, Dejan Lovren embodies their worst.
In the 45th minute, Mohamed Salah dashed past Juan Jesus and Federico Fazio. He took one touch before delicately dinking it over the outstretched arms of Alisson into the back of the net. And despite his muted celebration—if you can even call it that—Anfield erupted, bowing to their Egyptian king.
But lost in the madness was Roberto Firmino, who moments earlier had rolled the ball past Kostas Manolas to set Salah free on goal. Although perhaps stumbling the ball past Manolas would be a more apt description for what the Brazilian striker who is so very much un-Brazilian did.
The man raised in the oceanside city of Maceió, molded in the tiny town of Hoffenheim, and perfected by Jürgen Klopp will proudly don Brazil’s yellow and green in Russia this summer, but he is not what you’d expect from a Seleção frontman.
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His highlights more often consist of him barging into opponents and winning the ball back rather than dancing past his rivals. Firmino is unconventional, from his hair to his celebrations, but he’s the fulcrum that makes this electrifying Liverpool side function.
While Salah and Sadio Mané run in behind defenders, Firmino drops into the spaces they vacate and finds the cracks to slip the ball to his attack partners.
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“Roberto delivers, delivers and delivers,” The Liverpool Echo reported that Klopp said. “He doesn’t score all the time, he is not always brilliant, but if he is not brilliant, then he works like a horse. It’s very important that you have this kind of stability there.”
He isn’t a traditional number nine, but with the way Klopp wants his Liverpool side to play, he doesn’t have to be. The 26-year-old stands at under 6 feet, but his hold-up play is second-to-none in the Premier League and perhaps even in the Champions League, where he bested the feared Edin Dzeko at his own game.
He’s selfless enough to pursue the ball relentlessly, pressing and harassing opponents for the entirety of 90 minutes, like he did to Alessandro Florenzi in the 64th minute when the Reds were already 4-0 up
Even with all of this, Firmino still added two goals to Liverpool’s tally, their fourth and fifth. The first from a tap-in and the second with a header from a corner kick. He’s now up to 27 goals this season, scoring 10 in 11 Champions League games, as well as contributing 16 assists overall (two against Roma). When Firmino is at his best, so are Liverpool.
“He is priceless to us,” Trent Alexander-Arnold told Liverpool’s website earlier this year. “He scores goals, he creates chances and he gets assists. There’s not much more you want from a No. 9.”
With Liverpool 5-0 up and cruising, Anfield was bouncing until Dejan Lovren misjudged a header, allowing Dzeko to pounce and slot the ball past a helpless Loris Karius. A penalty followed, James Milner judged to have handled the ball. Diego Perotti blasted it into the top corner and it was now the Roma supporters, crestfallen mere minutes ago, who were bouncing in the away end.
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If Firmino encapsulates Liverpool’s brightest moments, it is Lovren who embodies Liverpool’s darkest. Maybe it’s a bit harsh. After all, the 28-year-old has improved under Klopp’s guidance and barely featured in the Reds’ most recent collapse against West Brom last weekend. Klopp went so far as to describe Lovren as his ideal centreback before the Roma tie.
But it’s the Croat who has become synonymous with Liverpool’s self-immolations over the last few years. After his mistake, panic spread. 5-1 turned into 5-2 which nearly turned into 5-3 after Perotti’s strike at the near post zoomed right of Karius.
When referee Felix Brych blew the final whistle, the feeling at Anfield was more of relief than ecstasy. 5-2 seems a comfortable margin, but who knows after Roma’s heroics against Barcelona? A repeat of the 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico would suffice for Eusebio Di Francesco’s outfit to make it to the final in Kiev.
“The tie is not over,” Di Francesco insisted after the game. “Whoever doesn’t believe that can stay at home.”
Klopp echoed his counterpart, “If one of my players doesn’t think [Roma] will try to come back, he won’t play.”
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However, as Klopp also rightly pointed out, Liverpool have never done things the easy way. Yet, they have largely succeeded. Liverpool are only 90 minutes away from another Champions League final, their eighth. Should they make it out of the Stadio Olimpico unscathed next Wednesday, Klopp will close in on leading Liverpool to the ultimate success.