Liverpool were left furious after £20m signing compared to Lionel Messi given extended European ban
On this day in 2014, Lazar Markovic was shipped off for Liverpool as Brendan Rodgers’ side left the Heroes League
Liverpool might have floated through to the last 16 of this season’s Heroes League with five wins from six – yet this was a long way from the case on this day in 2014.
Confronting Basel at Anfield in their last group game, Brendan Rodgers ‘ Reds required a triumph to advance to the following round.
In any case, regardless of a late balancer from Steven Gerrard, the Swiss side procured a 1-1 attract on Merseyside to send Basel through to the knockout rounds at Liverpool ‘s cost – with the Reds’ endeavors frustrated by an odd red card for Lazar Markovic .
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The £20m marking from Benfica had guaranteed a troublesome beginning to life at Anfield, battling to satisfy high hopes subsequent to showing up following Luis Suarez’s takeoff.
Without a doubt, former boss Avram Award had even contrasted the Serbian young person with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo upon his takeoff for Anfield, saying: “I can say that separated from Ronaldo and Messi, Markovic is perhaps of the best ability I’ve at any point seen at 19 years old.”
Furthermore, Markovic had overwhelmed in the wake of coming on as a half-time substitute to attempt to switch his team’s fortunes against Basel, turning in a vivacious execution as the Reds hoped to fight back from Alexander Frei’s opener.
Yet, that all reached a conclusion 15 minutes after the fact after his thrashing arm nibbled Basel midfielder Behrang Safari and he was in this way shipped off.
It was a severe blow for the Serbian international and one that left Liverpool seething with the authorities.
“I thought he looked really brilliant. He’s beginning to sink into our approach to working,” Rodgers said of Markovic , after the game.
“We requested that he be more forceful entertainingly enough, with the ball, and to utilize his body more – and when he came on he was brilliant and seemed as though he could cause an issue.
“In any case, I thought the shipping off was a really, really disheartening choice.
“Lazar Markovic is shipped off when his fingernail scarcely contacts the nose of the defender. He’s the person who ought to be checked out and shipped off for his response.
“So that gave us a mountain to move with 10 men yet I figured the players’ response to battle from that second was remarkable.
“There were a ton of choices that were frustrating. Obviously it’s not the Premier League and that’s what we regard and that’s what figure out.
“The players play sufficient international football and have played in an adequate number of competitions to realize that the refereeing is unique, however that choice was exceptionally frustrating.”
All things considered, the then-20-year-old was given a drawn out four-game restriction from European football two months after the fact, much to his own bemusement.
For sure, Markovic took to Twitter to communicate his failure at the choice yet the Reds decided not to pursue the choice.
UEFA put an extra game on Markovic’s suspension as the Serbian international had been shipped off by Imprint Clattenberg as far as it matters for him in a touchline fracas while playing for Benfica in the Europa League, the past season.
Regardless of Liverpool’s protestations, when addressed, Safari kept up with that he was on the right track to respond in the manner he did.
“Indeed, yes obviously. I was draining from my mouth,” the Swedish international told Sportbladet .
“I could not have possibly gone to ground in the event that he hadn’t hit me. I’m not the sort of player who plunges.
“It was a piece peculiar, I didn’t realize that it was a red card from the start.
“I thought the referee had blown his whistle since it was a head injury and I assumed I planned to give the ball to the Liverpool players a short time later. However at that point I saw that the Liverpool players were furious with me.”
For Markovic, the 2014/15 season would be the main mission that the winger highlighted for the Reds, making a sum of 34 appearances and scoring three goals.
Following Brendan Rodgers’ takeoff, the ongoing Partizan Belgrade man was conveyed borrowed on four unique events, prior to moving to Fulham in January 2019.
