I. The Road to the Champions League
[Group stage]
Despite being last year's runners-up, Reds Liverpool still do not have enough European points to be one of the top two teams in the group draw, so they have been drawn in Group C with Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain, Italian Serie A rivals Napoli and Serbia's Red Star Beograd in a three-horse race for a place in the Round of 16. Liverpool's home and away matches were sharply contrasting in the first five days of the competition, with two home wins, including a 3-2 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the opening match to set up a title assault and a 4-0 thrashing of Red Star, but all away losses and lackluster matches left them in third place with only six points before the final round. In the group finale, Liverpool faced second-placed Napoli and had to win in order to qualify. The Reds were playing at home, but only managed to take a 1-0 lead with a goal from Egyptian King Mohamed Salah, before a slip-up at the back in injury time led to a one-touch chance for Napoli from Arkadiusz Milik at a set-piece, which was fortunate. Luckily for the Reds, goalkeeper Alisson Becker blocked the inevitable goal to preserve the victory, and Liverpool eventually narrowly won 1-0, eliminating Napoli and advancing to the second place in the group.
Group Stage Matchday 1: Liverpool 3-2 Paris Saint-Germain
Group Stage Matchday 2: Napoli 1-0 Liverpool
Group Stage Matchday 3: Liverpool 4-0 Red Star Beograd
Group Stage Matchday 4: Red Star Beograd 2-0 Liverpool
Group Stage Matchday 5: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Liverpool
Group Stage Matchday 6: Liverpool 1-0 Napo
[Knockout round]
The Reds sent Brazilian midfielder Fabinho to replace Virgil van Dijk, who was suspended after accumulating a yellow card, at center back. The Reds, based on the fact that they were playing in their home turf, adopted a mid-field pressing approach, but Bayern, under the deliberate arrangement of manager Niko Kovac, slowed down their pace and continued to make short passes at the back, causing Liverpool players to press and exhaust themselves. However, Bayern slowed down under the deliberate arrangement of manager Niko Kovac, and kept on passing short passes in the backfield, causing Liverpool players to press on and consume their energy, and then let Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman, who have high impact power, to counterattack on the side, and finally Bayern forced the Reds to a 0-0 draw at the Anfield.
In the second round of the match in Munich, the situation was very different from the first round, Bayern in the early half of the first half continued to pressure the Liverpool defenders, causing the Reds to retreat from the midfield, leaving the trident waiting for the opportunity to counterattack in front of the field, but Bayern in the case of prolonged attack, Liverpool winger Sadio Mane grasped the center back Van Dyk a long pass, and pressed the Bayern substitute right back Rafinha (), and scored. Liverpool scored a valuable away goal, and because Bayern needed to win to qualify, they put more players on the attack, giving Liverpool more chances to counter-attack. Although Bayern's cross from Gnabry made Liverpool center back Joel Matip make a mistake at the end of the first half, the Reds were determined in the second half. Despite the fact that Liverpool's midfielder Joel Matip made a mistake with a cross from Gnabry at the end of the first half, the Red Army's defensive counter-attack in the second half was effective, with Van Dyk and Mane scoring a goal each, and the final score was 3-1 for Liverpool to beat Bayern away and advance to the last eight.
Round of 16: Liverpool 0-0 Bayern Munich
Round of 16: Bayern Munich 1-3 Liverpool
Liverpool's opponent in the last eight was Portuguese Premier League giants Porto, a combination they had already faced in the last 16 of last season. The first leg of the eight-legged tie was played at Liverpool's Anfield, and the atmosphere of the match was completely different from that of the last season's digestive trial here, with Liverpool still strong on home soil, and the Reds took an early 1-0 lead in the fifth minute of the first half, after a shot from outside the box by Naby Keita was refracted into the net. In the fifth minute of the first half, Naby Keita's shot from outside the box was deflected into the net to give the Reds an early 1-0 lead. Liverpool then took control of the game, with captain Jordan Henderson's low, accurate direct kick going through the entire Porto defense, and right back Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross into the box was headed in by Firmino to make the final score 2-0.
The second leg was held at the Dragon Stadium in Porto. The hosts, Porto, came out in full force and kept Liverpool on the attack in their half of the pitch for several times. In the first 25 minutes, Porto's possession rate was as high as 55.8%, and they had already taken 13 shots on goal, while Liverpool had no record of any shots on goal at all. However, the first goal came from Liverpool, and the Reds relied on the Egyptian king, Salah, who started with his right foot and sent the ball to the back post. The Reds took the ball to the back post with the right foot of Egypt's King Salah, and Mane scored on the spot to give Liverpool a one-goal lead on their first shot on goal. By this point it was hard to turn the game around and Porto had to score four goals to have a chance of winning the series, but Liverpool gradually regained control of the game after the goal, with Firmino, Salah and Van Dyk scoring to beat the hosts 4-1 and advance to the quarter-finals with a score of 6-1 on aggregate.
Round of 8: Liverpool 2-0 Porto
Round of Eight: Porto 1-4 Liverpool
Semi-final: Barcelona faced Liverpool at the Camp Nou in the first leg of the highly anticipated matchup. Barcelona was ready to take on the Reds with a full lineup, while Liverpool's star striker Roberto Firmino was limited to the bench due to a minor injury. The game was fast-paced and intense, with Barcelona's striker Luis Suarez capitalizing on a surprising ground pass from left back Jordi Alba to take a 1-0 lead. Barcelona striker Luis Suarez seized the left back Jordi Alba (Jordi Alba) a surprising ground pass, before the penalty area shoveled the goal to take a 1-0 lead, the second half of the Red Army continued to resist tenaciously, Salah, Mane and others are still constantly threatening the home team's goal, but the attack did not get in the long time, in this case Barcelona drums of gas, the king of the ball Lionel Messi (first of all, the penalty area to supplement the goal, and a wonderful free kick breakthrough, the end of the game with the goal of the first half, and the goal of the game is the first time. Lionel Messi scored from inside the penalty area, and then scored a spectacular free kick to give Liverpool a 3-0 victory.
In the second round at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium, the Reds' starting lineup was missing Salah and Firmino, and was topped by Belgian striker Divock Origi and Swiss ace Xherden Shaqiri. The match started aggressively, reverting back to a heavy metal style of soccer, with high intensity high pressing, starting from Barcelona's keeper and defenders. The result was that Origi was the first to open the scoring in the 7th minute through an error in the opponent's return pass. For the rest of the match, Barcelona continued to defend and counter-attack, and Liverpool didn't change their opening strategy, but Barcelona had more counter-attacking chances, including Lionel Messi, Alba, and Phlippe Coutinho, all of whom had several chances to attack, but unfortunately couldn't break through the goal. In the second half, Liverpool made it 3-0 and 3-3 with a goal by substitute Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum in the 54th minute and a hammer in the 56th minute. A surprise came when Liverpool's defender Trent Alexander-Arnold scored from a corner kick, and Origi scored directly from an unmarked position. Liverpool's defender Trent Alexander-Arnold scored from a corner kick and Origi scored unopposed, giving Liverpool a four-goal victory and a 4-3 aggregate scoreline to advance to the final.
Semi-final Round 1: Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool
Semi-Final Round 2: Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
II. Player Data
Goalscorers: Salah, Firmino, Mane
Assists: Arnold
Passing Master: Van Dyke
King of Runners: Mane
Best Player: Alisson
Liverpool's best player in the Champions League this season was undoubtedly Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who played all 12 games in the Champions League group and knockout stages, conceding just one goal per game and making 34 saves, a save percentage of 73.9%. Alisson has five clean sheets in the Champions League this season, including three in crucial matches:
(1) Alisson's injury-time save from Milik in the 1-0 win over Napoli in the group stage finale ensured his side finished a thrilling second in the group;
(2) A 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Round of 16 set up a second leg away win; (3) a 4-0 win over Barcelona in the second leg of the semi-final, with Alisson making five saves, including a one-two from Alba, to keep his team from being pressured by their opponents for an away goal, and ultimately helping Liverpool to advance to the final with a 4-3 comeback win. In short, Liverpool wouldn't have made it through the group stage without Alisson, let alone made it to Madrid without him, so the Brazilian goalkeeper is the man of the match.
