Chris Sutton hails Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain despite Liverpool defeat

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Chris Sutton gave Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain a special mention for his display on Wednesday night, despite his side being dumped out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid.

The Reds were beaten 1-0 in the first leg out in Spain by Atletico, but were still favourites to progress during the second meeting at Anfield.

Georginio Wijnaldum scored just before half-time to level the tie up, as he headed in a cross from Oxalde-Chamberlain.

With the aggregate scoreline level, the contest went into extra-time and Roberto Firmino scored in the 94th minute when he tapped in after a rebound off the post.

But substitute Marcos Llorente (two) and Alvaro Morata responded with away goals for the visitors to give them a 3-2 victory on the night on Merseyside, plus a 4-2 aggregate win to take them to the quarter-finals of the European competition.

Jurgen Klopp’s team now only have the Premier League left to compete in, but are on the cusp of the title and it will still be a historic season for them.

Pundit Sutton believes that Oxlade-Chamberlain attacked well for Liverpool and picked him out as a major positive in defeat.

“It was a big call by Klopp to bring in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and drop Fabinho to the bench, but that was a sign of his attacking intent,” Sutton wrote in the Daily Mail.

“Oxlade-Chamberlain was taken off after 82 minutes after running himself into the ground. He can be proud of his performance – his gave his all, and his contribution left the tie in the balance.

TBR’s View:

Oxlade-Chamberlain certainly gave all he could during his time on the pitch before he was substituted off late in normal time, but unfortunately the Spanish giants hit on the counter attack during extra-time to snatch the two-legged tie.

The 26-year-old was one of the individuals that injected real quality going forward against a stubborn Atletico defence and he did get the Reds back in the match with his cross for Wijnaldum.

He’s shown flashes of brilliance during his time at Anfield and had some bad luck with injuries, but he proved in midweek that he can deliver an outstanding performance on the elite stage and perhaps the best is still to come from the central midfielder.