Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by a stubborn Bayern Munich in the first-leg of their last-16 Champions League tie at Anfield. Concrete chances were few and far between as both teams failed to make the breakthrough on Merseyside, setting up what promises to be a nerve-shredding encounter in Germany next month.
Liverpool may have failed to record the win on home soil, or even score for that matter, but they registered a potentially pivotal clean sheet – despite the absence of the suspended Virgil Van Dijk – as they prevented Bayern Munich from scoring that valuable away goal.
However, Liverpool fans will need no reminding that their troops have endured somewhat of a stinker away from Anfield in the Champions League, having failed to win on the road since a 2-0 win over Man City at the Etihad back in April, while they’ve not won outside of England in European competition since a 5-0 hammering of Porto over a year ago.
Since the City success Liverpool have played five games and lost each of them, one of which was on neutral soil.
Back in May they lost 4-2 to Roma in the semi-finals, then 3-1 to Real Madrid in last season’s showpiece spectacle. So far this term Jurgen Klopp’s travel-shy side have lost each of their three away games to Napoli, Red Star Belgrade, and PSG, scoring only one goal in the process.
Meanwhile, Bayern have won 22 of their last 26 Champions League games on their own patch, losing just twice, with both of those defeats against Real Madrid.
Liverpool will perhaps draw small optimism from the fact that Bayern have won just two of their last five in front of their own fans in Europe, losing to the aforementioned Real in April, while Sevilla and Ajax have both come away with draws.
Liverpool and Bayern will face off on Wednesday 13th March, with a lot of important domestic matches to be played from now until then.