English footballer James Milner and former Portugal forward Luis Figo share the record for most assists in a single UEFA Champions League season, with nine assists.

Milner, who joined Liverpool in 2015, achieved the feat in the first leg of the 2017-18 Champions League semi-final against AS Roma, when Roberto Firmino headed his 69th-minute corner kick past now Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker to make the score 5-0.

Most assists in a single #UCL campaign:

17/18 - James Milner [9]
16/17 - Neymar [8]
13/14 - Wayne Rooney [8]
21/22 - Bruno Fernandes [7]*

Going for the record. pic.twitter.com/FvXg8Y3PAa

�?Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) February 23, 2022

The Englishman matched Luis Figo’s tally of assists which the Portuguese great first achieved in the 1999-00 season. As per transfermarkt.co.uk, Figo racked up nine assists in 13 matches for FC Barcelona in the campaign and repeated it in the following season - nine assists in 14 games - while representing Real Madrid.

Neymar and Wayne Rooney sit joint-second on the list for most assists in a single UEFA Champions League campaign with eight assists.

Rooney, Manchester United’s all-time top scorer, notched eight assists in the 2013-14 Champions League campaign.

Neymar matched Wayne Rooney’s record in the 2016-17 season, when he provided eight assists for FC Barcelona. The Brazilian played a role in four goals in the Blaugrana’s 7-0 win over Celtic, and it remains one of his best performances in the competition.

Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes notched his seventh UCL assist in a single campaign in the ongoing 2021-22 campaign, when his 80th-minute pass enabled Anthony Elanga to equalise for the Red Devils in their 1-1 first leg draw against Atletico Madrid.

6 - Bruno Fernandes is the first player in Champions League history to assist in six consecutive appearances while playing for an English club, breaking the record held by David Beckham (for @ManUtd) since 1998. Creator. pic.twitter.com/y92qBMZas8

�?OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2022

By doing so, Bruno also set a new record as the first player in Champions League history to assist in six consecutive games for an English club. 

Furthermore, the Portuguese playmaker’s tally of seven assists puts him joint-third on the list for most assists in a single UEFA Champions League campaign alongside Roberto Firmino (2017-18), Ryan Giggs (2006-07), Zlatan Ibrahimović (2012-13) and Xavi Hernández (2008-09).

Most assists in a single UEFA Champions League campaign

Player	Assists	Season
Luis Figo	9	1999-00, 2000-01
James Milner		2017-18
Wayne Rooney	8	2013-14
Neymar		2016-17
Ryan Giggs	7	2006-07
Xavi Hernández		2008-09
Zlatan Ibrahimović		2012-13
Roberto Firmino		2017-18
Bruno Fernandes*		2021-22

*indicates an active player who could break the record

Author: William Paul

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Featured photo: AFP / PETER BYRNE

Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino has often been described as a �?strong>Jurgen Klopp player�?for his versatility in front of the goal. Still, his turbulent performances have catapulted Liverpool’s faltering rate of goals. This has invited many suggestions for the reigning champions to opt for a future beyond the Brazilian.

The Merseysiders�?fell to their first defeat in four years at Anfield, and it was the fifth successive game where Firmino drew blank in front of the goal. The former Hoffenheim attacker has managed just five goals and three assists in the 2020/21 season, a far cry from his previous campaigns�?output.

With the Premier League title race heating up, and Liverpool in a race against time to strengthen their grip in their title defence, here are a few reasons why the Reds must take a bold step in finding a replacement for their number nine.

A landslide in minutes per goal ratio

Firmino, who signed for Liverpool in 2015, has registered 62 goals in 194 appearances at an average of 0.32 goals per match. While often a frontline attacker, the 29-year-old has plied his trade as a rotating forward which he now battles for, with Diego Jota. This development has reduced his chances of featuring for the first team while taking a toll on his confidence to score when given starts by manager Jurgen Klopp.

Analysis of Liverpool’s front 3! #MNF #PremierLeague

pic.twitter.com/sDt3ETkg31

�?Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) January 18, 2021

In the last four seasons, Roberto Firmino has seen his minutes per goal ratio take a rollercoaster route. The Brazilian’s most ambitious campaign in a Liverpool shirt came in 2017/18, where he scored 15 goals and clocked 185 minutes per goal. However, he has since failed to live up to those figures, scoring a goal every 333rd minute in the championship-winning campaign and currently has taken 297 minutes per goal. Judging by the standards with which Liverpool play, it is a far cry from a classic number nine standards.

A stumbling block in the front three

The front three of Liverpool -  Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mane - may have dominated the scoring charts in the past few seasons. Still, at the same time, there have been plenty of drawbacks that have unsettled the trio’s relationship on the pitch.

20 - Roberto Firmino has scored his first @premierleague goal at Anfield in 20 appearances, ending a run of 1,591 minutes of play and 56 attempted shots without scoring at the ground since he netted against Tottenham in March 2019, 479 days ago. Relief. #LIVCHE pic.twitter.com/vq63ZEmUib

�?OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 22, 2020

While Salah and Mane are either scoring or creating opportunities for Liverpool to score goals, Roberto Firmino has been a let down as he has lost the ability to be a creative link-up for his team-mates. The Brazilian’s pass per game ratio in 2018/19 (37.62) dropped to 30.55 in the 2019/20 season, thus indicating that Firmino is currently surplus to the fast-paced football that Liverpool has played in the last few seasons.

Firmino failing to lift the number nine curse

Number nine carries the scoring duties for a team in a competitive league as the Premier League. Liverpool have produced some of the greatest attacking players in the competition, but none have been as prolific as Fernando Torres.

The Reds have seen as many as four players take up the mantle of the number nine, and Roberto Firmino is the latest player to don the iconic number. But if one had to compare Firmino and Torres, one can safely say the former isn’t a full-fledged striker.

In his four seasons at Liverpool, Torres scored 65 goals in the Premier League with a goal per game ratio of 0.74, while Firmino’s record reads as 0.37 goals per game. The likes of Jamie Carragher and Peter Crouch have been critical of the Brazilian’s performance levels. They have voiced their claims for the 19-time Premier League winners to find an immediate solution to lift the number nine curse.

A host of Liverpool fans and football pundits have recently stressed out how the Reds must prolong their current style of play if they are to challenge for trophies. The presence of Firmino has unsettled the balance in the playing XI, and while Jurgen Klopp has publicly defended the Brazilian’s faltering life at Anfield, the clock is ticking for the club to find a reliable replacement to fit their standards of attacking football.

Feature Image courtesy:  AFP / Peter Powell

"We would not even be in the Champions League if Bobby Firmino wasn't with us, and immediately, I have to explain why he's not in the team,�?said Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after new signing Diogo Jota inspired the Reds to a thumping 5-0 win over Atalanta away from home.

The Portuguese’s regal display against the Italians has opened up a hearty dialogue amongst the club faithful, and rightly so. Since arriving from Wolves for a fee that could rise up to £45m, making him the most expensive forward in the club’s history, the 23-year-old has settled in well to an extent that he has bagged seven goals for the club already. Bear in mind that he hasn’t even started half of the games this season, and two of his four Premier League goals have been the match winners.

Diogo Jota's game by numbers against Atalanta:

�?Most total duels (11)
�?Most shots (4)
�?Most shots on target (4)
�?Most goals (3)
�?Most fouls won (2)

A first Liverpool hat-trick for DioGOAL Jota. pic.twitter.com/FkT24gGbI4

�?Squawka Football (@Squawka) November 3, 2020

On Tuesday, a hat-trick meant that he has now scored more goals for Liverpool in 2020 than Roberto Firmino despite playing 1,930 minutes less than the Brazilian. And this is where things get tricky. Roberto Firmino’s goal-scoring drought, even in the 2020/21 season, has coincided with Jota’s sumptuous form and the matters can rightly go south if there’s no upsurge.

Jota has been a luminary replacement so far, and that was made quite evident on Tuesday against Atalanta. Apart from his hat-trick, the Portuguese’s link-up play was swift and even the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane looked assured in his presence. There was no shilly-shallying, to say the least. 

The former Wolves man has tucked in Klopp’s philosophy quite well, and a part of its credit is due to his former boss Nuno Espírito Santo, who deploys a something analogous ideology in his approach. Jurgen Klopp’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders once branded Jota as a ‘pressing monster�?and that partly sums why he hasn’t really had to put in extra effort in seemingly sliding into the team. Last year, in Wolves�?1-1 draw against Manchester United, Jota made a whopping 53 pressures, matching Firmino’s personal best from the last three seasons.

3 - Since the start of last season, Diogo Jota has scored three hat-tricks in the @ChampionsLeague and @EuropaLeague combined - the only player to have done so more than once. Stage. #UCL pic.twitter.com/Q7EmFSeJSn

�?OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 3, 2020

It may very well be a speedy conclusion but Jota appears to be one of the signings of the season due to several attributes. Liverpool forwards, judging by their own standards, have had a rather slow start to the new campaign. In the first few games of the season, both Salah and Mane were far from their best. In fact, against West Ham on October 31, the team had just one shot on target in the first half and were level only because of a penalty. On came Jota and the impulse got a sudden upshift. He brought in the lacking sharpness and his clever movements of the balls was why Liverpool came with all three points. 

That pity aphorism that ‘one man’s pain is another man’s pleasure�?is working in favour of Jota. Keep in mind that the initial idea of bringing in the Portuguese was to refine Liverpool’s attacking strength. But with Firmino managing a mere three goals in 29 appearances, the former Wolves forward can rightly push for a place in the starting XI. You see, no one is calling out to discard Bobby from his place as has his own attributes like running tirelessly to win the ball, feeding deadly through balls to the widemen, but he needs to have goals to his name as well.

As for Jota, the momentum is on his side and his inclusion has allowed Klopp to alter his approach. Against Sheffield last month, The German went with a 4-2-3-1 formation rather than his preferred 4-3-3, with Jota acquiring the right-wing while Firmino played just behind Salah. An approach like as this is certain to take its time, but given the quality, it is rightly expected to bear fruit.

No one really expected Jota to have the kind of impact he has had so far. But maybe that’s what worked for him. With expectations at their least, the Portuguese had little pressure, but however hulking it has been so far, he has dealt with it in mere perfection.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Miguel Medina

Gameweek 2 of the Premier League witnessed plenty of action and was the highest-scoring weekend in the league’s 20-team history, with 44 goals scored. Defending champions Liverpool continued their perfect start to the season while ruining Chelsea’s courtesy a 2-0 away win at Stamford Bridge. The upcoming gameweek could see more teams lose their perfect starts this season with a couple of encounters taking place between clubs who are yet to drop points so far. Here’s a look at what could happen in those contests.

Crystal Palace vs Everton

Both teams are unbeaten this season, having won their opening two matches. Crystal Place will be confident in their ability to beat Everton even though they have lost three of their last five league meetings against them and played out goalless draws during the Merseysiders�?last two visits to Selhurst Park. Wilfred Zaha will be brimming with confidence after bagging a brace in the previous gameweek and will want to leave his mark on the game again.

Everton, on the other hand, can be expected to get the better of Palace, especially if their last visit to London, when they beat Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day of the season, is anything to go by. Their performance last week was even better with new acquisitions James Rodriguez, who scored his first goal for the club, and Allan pulling the strings from midfield to help the Toffees make it consecutive wins to help kickstart their campaign.

Watch out for:

Dominic Calvert-Lewin: Dominic Calvert-Lewin has begun the new season like a man on a mission and if he can manage to sustain his early-season form for the entirety of the campaign, then it’s hard to see England manager Gareth Southgate leaving him out of the squad for the Euros next summer. The 23-year-old is the joint top-scorer in the league at present and scored Everton’s first Premier League hat-trick since Wayne Rooney netted thrice at Goodison Park in November 2017.

Liverpool vs Arsenal

Liverpool demonstrated just why they are champions of England last week. A controlled and relatively comfortable display saw the Reds beat a ten-man Chelsea side, and Jurgen Klopp’s men will back themselves to snap Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season. The last two league meetings between the teams at Anfield has ended in a 5-1 and 3-1 win for the hosts, and it will take something special from Arsenal to avoid another defeat on the red half of Merseyside.

Arsenal, though, will be bullish about their chances of taking something from the match having beaten Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium after Project Restart and edging them on penalties in the FA Community Shield last month. The Gunners will also take heart from the positive manner in which they have begun the season and hope that their manager Mikel Arteta can add another win to his record of four victories and two draws in nine matches against the league’s big six as Arsenal boss.

Watch out for:

Roberto Firmino: The Brazilian attacker may not have opened his account in the league yet, but Roberto Firmino is certain to enter this contest in a positive frame of mind with plenty of good memories of playing against the Gunners to back him up. Firmino, who provided the assist for Sadio Mane’s opener against Arsenal last week, has netted eight goals against Arsenal in the Premier League. Seven of his eight strikes have come at Anfield, including a hat-trick in December 2018.

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Feature image courtesy: AFP / Paul Childs/Pool

Liverpool's coronation as English champions for the first time in 30 years is the culmination of a dramatic journey since Jurgen Klopp's appointment as manager in 2015.

Klopp is the charismatic face of Liverpool's transformation from top-four contenders to Champions League winners and now Premier League champions.

However, the Reds' success on the pitch has been made possible by plenty of shrewd work on signings and sales behind the scenes.

Of the 18-man squad named by Klopp in his first match in charge less than five years ago, only James Milner, Adam Lallana and Divock Origi have featured this season, in peripheral roles.

The construction of Liverpool's title-winning squad has been a steady process.

In Klopp's first summer transfer window, Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum arrived to help secure a return to the Champions League.

The next year they were joined by Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

By January 2018, a long pursuit of Virgil van Dijk resulted in the Dutchman becoming the world's most expensive defender for £75 million ($93 million).

Inspired by Salah's free-scoring form, the instant impact of Van Dijk and growing maturity of full-backs Robertson and academy graduate Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool reached the Champions League final in 2018.

Two howlers from Loris Karius against Real Madrid delayed a sixth European Cup win for a year, but what happened afterwards showed the club's ruthless desire to get back to winning major trophies.

Read | Five key players who defined Liverpool’s title-winning season

Karius has never played another game for Liverpool as another world record fee, this time for a goalkeeper, was splashed on Alisson Becker from Roma.

Fabinho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri were also recruited in 2018 in a spending spree of more than £160 million.

"Maybe this season finally you demand they win," jibed then Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.

Win is what they have done relentlessly for two years.

A mammoth total of 97 points was still not enough to win the title last season due to Manchester City's own stunning levels of consistency.

However, the upgrades for the 2018/19 season were rewarded in silverware with a Champions League triumph. On the way to the trophy Liverpool thumped Barcelona 4-0 in the second leg of the semi-final, even without the injured Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Money well spent

The momentum of Madrid rolled into this season, with only the global pandemic preventing possibly the earliest-ever crowning of English champions.

Yet, in an era of sheikhs and oligarchs, Liverpool's success is not in outspending their rivals, but doing so more efficiently.

According to transfer specialists Transfermarkt, Liverpool's net spend over the past five years is £109 million, less than the outlay of Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Brighton.

Read | Five unforgettable moments from Liverpool’s Premier League triumph

It is a testament to Klopp's managerial skill that the departure of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142 million in January 2018 did not derail his side's progress.

Sporting director Michael Edwards has played a huge role in giving Klopp the resources he wants to work with by extracting maximum value from departures.

The sales of Mamadou Sakho, Dominic Solanke, Danny Ward, Danny Ings, Christian Benteke and Jordon Ibe have helped contribute another £120 million.

"I must also highlight the role of our sporting director, Michael Edwards in this journey so far," said Klopp when he signed a contract extension to 2024 earlier this season.

"His input and collaboration has been just as important as anyone else's in getting us into a position to compete for the game's top titles."

Having climbed the mountain, Liverpool plan on staying there.

A host of key players including Salah, Mane, Firmino, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson have signed contract extensions in the past two years.

"Liverpool's squad is young and all the key players are tied down on long contracts. They have huge potential to win more trophies," former England captain Wayne Rooney, who also skippered Liverpool's two biggest rivals, Everton and Manchester United, admitted on Sunday.

The signing of highly-rated 17-year-old Harvey Elliott and using a bargain £8 million buyout clause to secure Takumi Minamino from Red Bull Salzburg in January are further examples of Liverpool's long-term planning.

"For anyone in football who aspires to compete in an environment where every element of the organisation is at its very best �?from the support of the supporters to the vision of the owners �?there can be no better place than this," said Klopp.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Phil Noble

Liverpool fans erupted in joy on Saturday night when a 99^th minute strike from Roberto Firmino ensured their maiden FIFA Club World Cup title. The Brazilian also played a pivotal role in the semi-final against Monterrey when he scored a dramatic injury-time winner to propel Liverpool into the final.

Roberto Firmino has scored 6 goals for Liverpool so far this season.

5 of them have been match-winners. pic.twitter.com/rUQCTTOBK7

�?LFC Stats (@LFCData) December 22, 2019

This was only the fourth FIFA Club World Cup final to go into extra time. This victory continued the domination of European sides in this tournament who have now won 12 of the last 13 Club World Cup competitions. After rotating the squad in the semi-final, Klopp relied on his strongest XI to deliver this time around.

Its been emotional �?but this is just amazing @LFC Treble winning champions What a super club #YNWA pic.twitter.com/plhlg6zW8W

�?Annie's Anfield (@AnnelizaWalsh78) December 22, 2019

Defensive maestro, Virgil Van Dijk returned while both Sadio Mane and Firmino started the game this time around after coming from the bench in the semi-final against Monterrey. The Reds had a strong start to the game with a flurry of attack coming against Flamengo’s way. The Brazilian side however took time to adjust to the pace of Liverpool’s game and slowly found their groove.

However, the man who impressed the most for Flamengo was the winger Bruno Henrique who emerged as a continuous threat for the Liverpool defence. The match was also marred by controversial decisions �?dismissal of Jordan Henderson’s penalty appeal and the foul on Mane. Although, it all seems to have been laid out for Firmino who was destined to score that big goal.

Read | UCL draw: Liverpool face Atletico while Real Madrid plays Manchester City

With this win, Jurgen Klopp now has three major trophies under his belt during his time at Liverpool �?Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup. The Merseysiders will now head back to England to resume their domestic duties where Leicester City awaits in the Premier League. Klopp’s men will play Leicester and Wolves within a span of two days which will be their last this year.

Just think hard as a #LFC fan. This very save won us 3 trophies in 2019. @Alissonbecker needs a praise. #Liverpool pic.twitter.com/0m3Xka7RNk

�?Mukhtar Kinow (@MuktarKinow) December 22, 2019

This team

This is LIVERPOOL.
THIS MEANS MORE#Liverpool pic.twitter.com/oqjPYFJDpH

�?Sharmy (@OfficialSharmy) December 22, 2019

The year 2019 has been an eventful one for Klopp’s men and given a 11-point lead over reigning champions, Manchester City with a game in hand is truly a Christmas miracle.   

Feature image courtesy: AFP/ Giuseppe CACACE

Liverpool resume their Premier League title charge at Aston Villa on Saturday with Jurgen Klopp hoping to avoid a repeat of the defensive mayhem that nearly wrecked their dramatic League Cup win against Arsenal.

Klopp played a reserve side for the fourth round tie on Wednesday, featuring a number of emerging stars, and saw them advance via a penalty shoot-out having twice overcome two-goal deficits to draw 5-5 in 90 minutes.

Liverpool conceded as many goals in one cup game as they have all season at Anfield in the Premier League so, while it was a memorable evening, Klopp will be banking on his regular defence returning to their miserly ways at Villa Park.

Klopp's system is based on defending from the front and launching a devastating press whenever the opposition are in possession.

It is an approach that carried Liverpool to Champions League glory last season and has put them in pole position to win the title this term.

Klopp's high-tempo game-plan also makes the most of the abilities of Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino.

The 28-year-old has scored just three league goals in 10 appearances this season, below his normal productivity rate.

While Firmino's goal record may have come under scrutiny outside Anfield, within the club his status and reputation appears to be rising with every passing month.

Experts have described Firmino as the best player in the world at what he does: implementing Klopp's complicated, but hugely successful, tactical, pressing system.

By comparison, Xherdan Shaqiri has been with Liverpool for nearly 18 months and is still not trusted by Klopp, in big games at least, because of his inability to carry out precise and demanding instructions.

The Liverpool manager requires his forwards, when out of possession, to constantly close down angles to prevent opposition defences passing the ball forward.

Durability

Many strikers may not have the discipline or worth ethic to carry out those demands, but Firmino and team mates Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane fit Klopp's identikit striker.

The pressure on Firmino to score goals is far less given the outrageous productivity of his two colleagues. 

Salah and Mane both scored 22 goals in the Premier League last season and have five apiece in the league to date - figures that reduce the need on Firmino to score.

Speaking earlier this season about the durability of his three front-line strikers, Klopp did not hold back in talking about Firmino's worth and durability.

"Hopefully it stays like this, him hardly missing a game," Klopp said. "He missed a few and that was not too cool, but Bobby - what can I say about him that not everybody knows already?

"He's an incredibly important player. He enjoys it so much to play in this team, to be really there with all these super guys around him. 

"That's what helps him then, of course: if you have the speed around you, you can be this little cheeky guy in between the lines, being there and scoring the goals. Yeah, he's a very valuable player for us."

On occasions when Firmino has been unavailable, Klopp has paid him the compliment of not putting his direct replacement into the pivotal central position in the front three. 

Sometimes, Georginio Wijnaldum midfielder has been placed at the middle of the trio, a reflection of the defensive responsibility Firmino is usually asked to bear.

For Villa Park, Klopp has no new injury concerns although Naby Keita limped out of the Arsenal cup win with a calf injury.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Paul Ellis

Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool in 2015 after guiding Borussia Dortmund to the Bundesliga title in 2010-11, a domestic-double the next season, and a Champions League final in 2013, where they lost 2-1 to their German rivals Bayern Munich. Klopp always had a reputation of being experimental with his tactics that leaned toward high-pressing attacking style of gameplay. And to that end, he’s put together the best attacking trio of Europe in the past few years.

Since Salah joined Liverpool in 2018 from Roma to complete the trio with Sadio Mane and Robert Firmino, and all three of them fit perfectly to the roles Klopp expects them to perform. In one way or the other, they complement each other’s gameplay, which is of ultimate importance to the team’s goal scoring abilities. All three of them have a defined role in the team in how they form up to create more spaces and more chances in front of the goal.

Firmino is more of a number nine in this attack as he is not much in a goal-scoring position but his movement on and off the ball always allows others to run into the empty spaces created by the defenders that follow the Brazilian.

Sadio Mane takes full advantage of what Firmino does by moving off the ball. He usually plays on the left-wing, but his role is to cut into the central space and use his natural right foot to take his chances on the goal. So rapid is his acceleration that he often leaves defenders behind by a big margin to where he finds himself in a one-on-one position with the keeper.

Salah’s role is somewhat similar to that of Mane, but it differs slightly because of the natural abilities of the Egyptian. He finds himself more in those one-on-one situations and tap-in opportunities, which means he can also act as the center forward for his team. He is always found dancing around the opposition’s box to convert those crosses and surprising through balls. Even when he is on the wing, Salah has his magical left foot curl in shots on the far post.

Liverpool’s first-choice front three have scored more than 150 goals in all competitions in the 2018-19 season and been a nightmare for every defending unit. The team is no longer dependent on a single player, but a combined effort in all the departments have led to their recent success. Even though they just missed out on the Premier League title by a few titles, the trio’s consistent performances have helped their team reach the UEFA Champions League finals on back-to-back occasions and eventually win the most prestigious club competition.

Feature Image Courtesy: AFP / Oli Scarff