Rio Ferdinand, a former Manchester United defender, has singled out three Liverpool players who contributed to their elimination from the Champions League on Wednesday night.
According to the former England star, the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate should have themselves to blame over the Reds exit from Europe’s elite competition.
He said they were all at fault for Real Madrid’s goal that ended Liverpool’s Champions League hopes.
Liverpool were beaten 5-2 at Anfield from the first-leg and went to the Santiago Bernabeu hoping for a miracle to upturn the 3 goal deficit against the competition’s defending champions.
Karim Benzema scored in the 78th minute to kill off Liverpool’s faint hopes after he was picked out by an exquisite through ball from Eduardo Camavinga.
Benzema scored his 89th Champions League goal to seal a 6-2 aggregate victory.
Liverpool right-back, Alexander-Arnold, who was marking Vicinius Jr as Camavinga picked his way through the Liverpool defence, left the Brazilian and was five yards behind the Brazilian when he made the pass to Benzema.
Ferdinand told BT Sport: “As the ball goes into the centre forward, Trent Alexander-Arnold has got to be thinking defensively.
“Look at the separation when the ball comes down to Vinicius. He’s gone from being side-by-side, to being five yards behind the player he was marking.
“I’m baffled why one of those centre-backs [Van Dijk or Konate] doesn’t attach themselves straight onto him and the other can cover him and get in front.”
Leave a Reply