Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip were all in impressive form on Tuesday as Liverpool beat Atletico Madrid 3-2 in the Champions League.
The Reds travelled to Madrid for arguably the hardest game of their group and started fantastically as they went 2-0 up, before Los Rojiblancos pegged them back. Salah stepped up to bag the winner and a huge three points, and here we look at the Reds’ best players from a statistical point of view (via Sofascore).
Mohamed Salah
What else is there to say about Salah that hasn’t already been said? There have been suggestions recently that the Egypt international is the best player in the world (The Guardian), and his performance at the Wanda Metropolitano only boosted that claim.
Along with his two goals, he took 42 touches, completed 75 per cent of his attempted dribbles and provided one key pass, finishing as Sofascore’s man of the match with an 8.2 rating despite winning just three of his nine duels.
Virgil van Dijk
While Salah may be the best player in the world, van Dijk is arguably the best centre-half on the planet, at least according to Jurgen Klopp.
The Reds did concede twice on Tuesday, but that was hardly down to the display of the 30-year-old – making 83 touches, he won all of the five duels he took part in and also completed 93 per cent of his attempted passes.
Sofascore awarded him a 7.1 match score, with two clearances and three interceptions showing his defensive prowess.
Joel Matip
Matip has evolved into Klopp’s permanent first-choice partner for van Dijk, and he repaid that faith in Madrid, racking up a 7.0 rating from Sofascore as he got on the ball 84 times.
His 95 per cent passing accuracy was the joint-most of all outfield players to start the game, along with Fabinho, and he won all but one of his own eight duels.
The two clearances, interceptions and tackles he completed only consolidate his presence amongst the best performers for Klopp’s side.
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