Alisson was in goal, with Robertson, Van Dijk, Matip, and Arnold forming the back line. The midfield trio consisted of Wijnaldum, Fabinho, and Henderson, while the front three were Mané, Firmino, and Salah.
That was the starting lineup Klopp had put out tonight.
When Yang Yang received the starting lineup, his first reaction was...
"Is this still the Klopp we know?" Yang Yang said with a wry smile as he handed the list to Xabi Alonso. He then turned toward the tactical board behind him. The predicted lineup had Milner in midfield, not Wijnaldum.
The Assistant Coach also wore a helpless, bitter smile. They had truly guessed wrong this time.
Milner was a versatile player, a typical English midfielder who was excellent both offensively and defensively. He was highly energetic, had strong tactical discipline, abundant experience, and tended to play safe passes, rarely making mistakes.
Yang Yang and Xabi Alonso had watched many of Liverpool's previous matches. Milner mainly played on the left side of midfield. Besides intercepting and passing, he had another important task: covering for left-back Robertson.
"Wijnaldum replacing Milner in the starting lineup can basically mean only one of two things. Either Klopp believes our right flank can't threaten their left, or he doesn't intend to let his left-back push forward too much," Xabi Alonso analyzed.
Before the match, many people had analyzed the two teams that had reached the Champions League Final, Liverpool and Ajax. They shared one particularly obvious trait: both had very strong wings.
Liverpool had Robertson and Arnold, while Ajax had Tagliafico and Achraf. Both teams possessed tremendous attacking power on the flanks, making their wings important weapons in attack.
Xabi Alonso's analysis was right, but there was only one answer. Liverpool couldn't possibly be so arrogant as to believe that the right