Andrew Robertson regrets his clash with Lionel Messi at Anfield
The Reds will host Atletico Madrid on 11th March in the Round of 16, Second leg.
Liverpool have been a revelation under Jurgen Klopp and speaking about their dominance in Europe and this season in the Premier League, one cannot deny their cohesion and understanding among the players. One of the main reason for their success is their fullbacks and both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson have been influential in these couple of years.
They have really burst onto the scene and are now one of the best fullbacks in the world. Especially Andrew Robertson's journey from being an employee at the Marks and Spencer to being a Celtic reject then his time at Dundee United followed by a stint at Hull City to Liverpool, the fans love his struggle and how he always gives his everything for the club when he is on the pitch. They love the way he shields his teammates and they also love his exquisite crosses which have often ended up on the back of the opposition nets by his fellow forwards.
[KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]However, amidst all of this, Robertson has been in the news with several incidents in the last year or so. Starting from laughing at Everton's Tom Davies at the Merseyside Derby to repeating the same against Manchester City's Kyle Walker. He then followed it up when he went up against Rafinha in the Club World Cup as the latter earlier brought down Sadio Mane and the Senegalese winger lost his temper and was booked.
It was rather interesting duel going on at the Club World Cup when Rafinha and Mane went head to head as the former Bayern man went away without a red card for a reckless challenge on Mane. While the Liverpool man got agitated he was booked for a foul on Rafinha.
Tempers were high from both sides just when Robertson came to Mane and calmed him down as the camera and the audio feed caught him saying, "Sadio, I’ll get him, don’t worry." A few minutes in the game after that, the Scotsman brought Rafinha down to the ground and the Liverpool fans loved how he cared for his teammate.
However of all the incidents that have happened, the 25-year old only regrets one when he is looking back at it. It was the one at Anfield in the return leg where the Reds scripted the comeback, Robertson got involved in a tangle with Lionel Messi and shoved his head.
[KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]Speaking to Daily Mail about several issues, Robertson picks this one up and the Scotsman still looks at it with regret. “When I look back on things I don’t really regret anything because I feel as if everything is an experience that makes you what you are,” he said. “But I do look back on that moment with Messi as one regret. I don’t like seeing it. When I saw it afterwards I was gutted.
“We all had the attitude that day that nothing was standing in our way to get to that final and we created that atmosphere around the stadium and me and Fabinho were tracking him and there was a tangle of legs and we were on the floor. To do that to the greatest player that has ever played…"
"I have nothing but respect for him and Barcelona, but we went into that game with the attitude that we were 3-0 down, we needed a miracle, we needed something special and if that little thing stopped the best player in the world playing to his highest potential," he continued.
[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News | ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]"But I do regret it. That’s not me as a person. That’s not my personality. But that night a lot of things happened that you don’t really remember. There was no thought process behind it. We were right up for the game. The fans were roaring and you get caught up in it. You’re a human being. We were 3-0 down in the semi-final of the Champions League, which we wanted to put right from the season before. It was the loudest changing room I have been in before the game. You could see the focus and the determination in all of us and maybe I went over the line.
“But Liverpool fans like the edge, I think. I feel that maybe this whole team is quite good at representing Liverpool right now. Liverpool is a big working class city. We go out and show hard work. We get beaten in games but what you can’t question is that every time we go out there, we give 100 per cent.”
The football world has taken this as a nice gesture from Robertson as many felt that it was not required at that point of time and mainly against someone like Leo Messi.
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