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[Date: 11/03/2020, Anfield, Liverpool, Attendance: 55,000][UEFA Champions League, Round of 16 – 2nd leg | Aggregate: Liverpool 3–4 Leverkusen]
"Diaby… flying again!" Clive Tyldesley's voice spiked as the winger danced into Liverpool territory. He took a heavy final touch to pull the ball into space and then ghosted past Wijnaldum with a subtle shift of weight. Alexander-Arnold tried to match him stride for stride, but Diaby, like a bullet dipped in oil, was already past him after knocking the ball forward a couple of strides, leaving the right-back scrambling to recover.
From the sidelines, Peter Bosz shouted, "Warte! Warte!"—wait—hoping Diaby would hold it up. But the Frenchman had already spotted Havertz making a darting run through the centre. But the Winger couldn't hear him and did what he found best at the moment.
Reaching the byline with a lot of space to manoeuvre, he chopped the ball back with his trailing foot, sending Alexander-Arnold sliding past like a runaway train. The move drew gasps from the crowd, and in a blink, Diaby had reset his footing, his eyes scanning the box. Havertz's run had pulled van Dijk slightly toward the near post while Volland spun away to the back post with Gomez on his trail.
Without further consideration, he sent a well-placed cross towards the backpack post. The ball whipped through the air, drawing a rainbow-like arc, missing the chaos at the front and middle of the box. Kevin Volland read it perfectly, adjusting his body without coming to a stop and rose into the air.
Striking the ball cleanly with his forehead, he drilled it downward into the empty goal. "VOLLAND," Clive Tyldesley burst out. Adrián tried to lunge their way symbolically, but it had little effect as the ball pierced the back of the net.
[GOAL – 27' Kevin Volland | Liverpool 1–2 Leverkusen | Aggregate: 3–5]
Anfield, which had been hopeful moments ago, now turned terribly silent, with the loudest voices coming from the 15,000 away fans who celebrated as if they had just hit the jackpot. "And the Germans strike again! Two away goals at Anfield and Liverpool are in deep, deep trouble now!" Peter Drury exclaimed as the Leverkusen players mobbed Volland near the away corner flag.
Kai Havertz arrived second, lifting his teammate in a bear hug, shouting over the roar of the away supporters behind the goal. Tyldesley added grimly for Liverpool fans, "That away goal means Liverpool now needs three more… just to force extra time."
The restart was sluggish, almost funeral-like in its pace. Liverpool's players looked shell-shocked, their heads dropped as the magnitude of the task hit them. The crowd, so vocal just minutes before, had been reduced to anxious murmurs and the occasional shout of encouragement that sounded more desperate than confident.
Klopp was animated on the touchline, his arms windmilling as he tried to galvanise his team to remain composed. "Ruhe! Calm!" he shouted, urging them to stick to their game plan. But you could see the doubt creeping into his players' movements; they now seemed out of sync, almost as if they were on different pages.
Some wanted to continue attacking, while others, wary of the opponent's counter, wanted to settle the momentum first. "You can see the psychological damage that second goal has done," Drury observed as Henderson's pass rolled harmlessly out of play. Liverpool looks like a team that's been punched in the gut. They need inspiration from somewhere."
The visitors from mainland Europe weren't going to waste this chance and immediately started moving up their formation. Their pressing game became tighter, not giving their opponents the time to think. This is where the Leverkusen double pivot came into play, as Baumgartlinger and Palacios began to suffocate Liverpool's midfield.
Their defensive efficiency shone as they switched between zonal and man marking, allowing them to break the Reds' momentum before it could gather steam easily. On one occasion in the 35th minute, Henderson skipped past Havertz after a messy duel that involved hands and shirt-tugging from both sides. He barely got free when the towering Austrian midfielder swept the ball away with a clinical slide tackle.
Moments later, after the Reds managed to break a Diaby counter down the left flank, a chipped clearance from Van Dijk saw Palacios Deftly dodging Wijnaldum's jump, causing the latter to misjudge the leap. Calmly chesting the ball down, he redistributed it outward to Demirbay without a fuss.
Demirbay wasted no time. He glanced once, saw Alexander-Arnold out of position high up the pitch to mark Diaby, and pinged a diagonal switch to the left. Sinkgraven took flight, overlapping with the French winger racing towards the ball's landing point. He needed two touches to bring it under control, but he did so swiftly, arriving at the side of the box.
He immediately punched a low pass into Havertz's run at the top of the box. Kai's first touch was sublime, keeping it out of Henderson's reach, leaving the latter flat-footed. A quick Zidane roulette allowed him to swivel past Joe Gomez. He immediately took aim and let loose a grounded shot that skimmed across the slick surface like a skipping stone, curling low toward the far post.
Adrián, already shuffling his weight to the right, dove with cat-like agility, palming the ball just wide of the post, out for a corner. The away fans roared in appreciation as Kai Havertz clapped in acknowledgement of the service Sinkgraven had provided, nearly doubling his tally.
"You can't give Kai even a moment of space to operate; he is simply too dangerous once he gets going." Peter Drury said as the replay was shown on this screen. "He only needed three movements and locked in on goal."
"Indeed, he has been a joy to watch over the years." Clive Tyldesley commented, "The evolution of his playing style and its versatility is any coach's joy."
Moments later, the wind picked up slightly as Sinkgraven raised one hand to signal a cross. His delivery skipped along the ground, curving toward the edge of the six-yard box. Demirbay, who had been at the edge of the D, came racing in, sliding feet first, doing his best to redirect the incoming ball goalward.
Adrian slid along his knees. He managed to do just enough to smother the incoming ball in between his legs as his gloves strangled it. The Spanish keeper clutched the ball to his chest, breathing heavily as he looked up at the swirling grey clouds above Anfield.
"Another vital save from Adrian," Drury noted, his voice carrying the weight of Liverpool's predicament. "He's been the busier of the two keepers, but he's kept his side in this tie, just about."
The crowd tried to rally behind their team, a few scattered voices resounding from around the stadium. "When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high," It started from just a few fans who, despite the bleak situation, tried to do everything in their power to motivate their team.
"And don't be afraid of the dark, at the end of the storm..." Like an infection, it spread from one fan to another, their voices quickly growing louder. "Walk on, walk on, With hope in your heart"
By the time Adrian placed the ball down to escape the time-wasting rule in order to restart from the back, the sound in the arena had become deafening. A sports photographer from a reputable outlet managed to snap a picture of the moment. The keeper dressed in his Green goalie kit with the ball at his feet as a wall of red with scraves raised up high sang their team's war cry.
"And you'll never walk alone, You'll never walk alone" resounded throughout the stadium as, for a moment, the visiting dance team was silent as they felt the oppressive atmosphere. Not just them, but the players on the field also felt this atmosphere pressuring the visiting side and lifting the spirit of the home side.
"Well, Peter, this is what I would call one of the seven wonders of modern football, you can't buy this kind of passion," Clive commented as, for a second, no one seemed to want to break this moment with even the light drizzle coming to a sudden stop.