Xherdan Shaqiri proved to be the difference maker for Liverpool against Manchester United, and he may prove to be the biggest difference maker of the season.
Following a run to the Champions League final, the Reds stocked up on talent like a team intent on truly challenging for a Premier League title.
After three big money buys, the Reds made their lowest profile, and cheapest, signing of the summer: a £13 million transfer for Stoke City winger Xherdan Shaqiri.
Shaqiri – who at 26-years-old, seems older than he actually is – had been around the big leagues before, playing for the likes of Inter and Bayern, winning a Champions League final with the latter. And yet, despite the esteem of his early career clubs, Shaqiri eventually found himself at Stoke City.
Shaqiri does it again! His second on the day! pic.twitter.com/c1PMKBSJdO
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 16, 2018
But ever since joining Liverpool, the talents and skills that made Shaqiri such an exciting prospect in the early stages of his career have come back to the forefront, and those talents and skills just so happen to be something every team needs: he’s a born playmaker.
Outside of outdueling a center back for a cross, there is essentially nothing Shaqiri can’t do on the offensive end. He can shot for finesse and he can shoot for power. He can run in behind or play the ball through. He can cross the ball and he can link up play. He can take free kicks and corner kicks. He can score with both feet (as he did today.) And Liverpool, despite all of their offensive talents, had not had that sort of player since they sold Phillipe Coutinho.
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Those playmaking skills came in handy on Sunday, as the Alpine Messi proved to be the difference for the Reds, providing two goals in the final 20 minutes of the game, with his second score highlighting exactly the type of added dimension he brings to Liverpool’s offense.
When the highlight starts, Shaqiri is a good 30-32 yards from goal, but because he’s a true threat from distance, Ashley Young cannot retreat to cover the potential through ball, which Shaqiri effortlessly, and perfectly, plays to Roberto Firmino. Firmino cuts it back across to Mohamed Salah, before it nicks back off the back of his heels, falling perfectly to Shaqiri.
Now, while the goal was admittedly aided mightily by an Eric Baily deflection, there are not many other Liverpool players who would have been able to turn that situation into a goal.
Shaqiri plays the pass that collapses the Manchester United defense. Shaqiri is in the right place because of his innate playmaking sense. Shaqiri hits the ball cleanly and strongly enough that it stays low and finds the back of the net despite the deflection.
Is this deflected goal the ultimate referendum on The Powercube’s talent and his impact on this Liverpool team? Absolutely not, because no matter how you slice it, both of his goals involved a certain element of good luck.
But that’s the thing about good luck: it’s where preparation meets opportunity, and Shaqiri just so happened to be there, as he has been all season. And that makes you wonder … what if Shaqiri is good luck because his talent makes it so?