Liverpool suffered an all too familiar case of deja vu in tonight’s Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid at Anfield.The visitors broke the deadlock in the 17th minute through a rather unsurprising source, with Marcos Llorente scoring at this stadium for the fifth time since March 2020.The Spaniard burst beyond Milos Kerkez into a gap in the Reds defence to get on the end of a through ball from Julian Alvarez and then finish one-on-one past Alisson Becker from the edge of the penalty area.Llorente breaks the deadlock! That’s now FIVE Champions League goals for the Atletico man against Liverpool at Anfield Watch live on TNT Sports & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/Rxp4zurfpc— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 9, 2026Kerkez blamed for Llorente’s latest Anfield goalAs Llorente celebrated yet another goal at Anfield, the inquest begun from a Liverpool perspective, and one reporter pointed the finger of blame at the Hungarian left-back.Aadam Patel of BBC Sport observed: ‘Marcos Llorente actually named his dog Anfield. It’s a good finish from the Spaniard but the defending is so poor from Milos Kerkez. He has to track his man better.’Speaking on co-commentary for TNT Sports, Ally McCoist felt that the Reds were culpable as a unit for allowing Atletico’s number 14 far too much room in which to score, saying: “I’m staggered at the space they’re allowed in the middle of the park. It’s absolutely amazing.”(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)Liverpool defence as a whole caught napping for Llorente goalAs Alvarez surged towards the halfway line, Liverpool appeared to hold a good defensive shape, but a lack of pressure on the Argentine in midfield allowed him to pick his pass to Llorente.The Atletico wing-back was much more alert than Kerkez, who was caught flat-footed as the Reds’ tormentor in chief burst from behind him and was played through on goal, unsurprisingly making no mistake thereafter.It was a costly lapse in concentration from the 22-year-old, although the defence as a whole left far too much space for Llorente to get his shot away and score past Alisson.Liverpool managed to restore parity shortly before the interval thanks to a coolly-taken equaliser from Dominik Szoboszlai, although the manner of the opening goal for the visitors will have stung Andoni Iraola.The post ‘So poor’ – Liverpool player slammed for costly moment which left Ally McCoist ‘staggered’ appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.