Firmino is picture perfect again as Liverpool’s away-day goal monster | Barney Ronay


José Mourinho’s embrace of the untouchable Brazilian was as close as Tottenham got to Jürgen Klopp’s match-winner on a day when Spurs were left chasing red ghosts

There was a funny moment at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the TV camera team ran on to get that full-time shot, the one that frames the gurgling post-match summary. On this occasion they ran to Roberto Firmino, scorer of the game’s only goal, and an ideal subject for that defining portrait: shirt off, guns out, applauding the away support in faux-pious isolation.

Except, they couldn’t get it. Firmino kept disappearing, submerged by other bodies, hugging Xherdan Shaqiri, dodging the solo shot with the studied expertise of Jason Bourne evading a sniper on a crowded commuter platform. Doggedly the woman in brown boots and the man in the bobble hat lurked and lingered, shoulders slumping. Did we get that, Jez? Did we get the shot?

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