The difficult season that Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool has lived through had a happy ending this Sunday. A double by Sadio Mané on the last day of the Premier League allowed the 'reds' to defeat Crystal Palace and they will not miss the next Champions League event (2-0). And all this with 10,000 fans driving their team at Anfield, in the return of the public after the restrictions due to the Covid pandemic.
(+) See the summary and the goals of the match:
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Hard hit by injuries, Liverpool not only could not revalidate the Premier (which conquered Pep Guardiola's Manchester City) but also came within 8 points of the Champions League positions in March. But Klopp's men managed to come back and, with 5 wins in a row in the last 5 days, a total of 10 unbeaten matches, they have finished the English championship in third position in the table.
It had to be Mané, who has lived through a bad year, as the Senegalese winger himself recently recognized, who scored the double that earned his team one more year to return to the Champions League. In total, Mané has achieved 11 ‘goals’ in the Premier.
Farewell to Roy Hodgson
At the farewell (at least to the Palace) of their coach, Roy Hodgson, at 73 an emblem in English football, Crystal Palace disturbed Liverpool in the first quarter of an hour. Alisson Becker, the hero who kept the ‘red’ team alive in the fight to go to the Champions League with his goal from last day, had to show off to thwart two shots from Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend.
Later, Liverpool was the Liverpool of its great moments, with dizzying football, plus the contribution of a great Thiago Alcántara. Klopp's chances followed one another, but the minutes passed and the goal didn't come. Until the 36th minute, when Mané scored after a corner served by Andy Robertson, Rhys Williams combed the ball in his head and decided the Senegalese winger assisted by Roberto Firmino.
Liverpool had many chances to extend their lead, but had to wait until the 74th minute to do so, when Mané himself culminated a counterattack led by Mohamed Salah, who assisted his teammate.
The Egyptian star was struggling to achieve his third Premier Golden Shoe, but could not take advantage of the opportunities he had on this final day and was won by Harry Kane thanks to his goal against Leicester (2-4 for Spurs). Kane finished with 23 'targets', just one more than Salah. In the final stretch, a hand from Vicente Guaita prevented Salah from scoring.