Milner baffled as Liverpool fail to take their chances in Red Star defeat

James Milner was left bemused by Liverpool’s inability to make the most of their chances in Tuesday’s shock 2-0 Champions League loss to Red Star Belgrade.

Milan Pavkov scored both goals for Red Star, as they picked up their first win of the season in the Champions League and blew Group C wide open.

Liverpool would have been four points clear at the top – for at least a few hours – had they won, but their inability to do so means Napoli or Paris Saint-Germain can overtake them.

The Reds certainly had their chances in Belgrade, but they hit the frame of the goal twice and came up against a Milan Borjan in good form between the posts.

Nevertheless, Milner was frustrated by Liverpool’s failure in front of goal.

“I think the chances just aren’t going in for us,” Milner told BT Sport. “I don’t know how many chances, very good chances, we had tonight, but it felt like a lot.

Defeat on #UCL matchday four.#REDLIV

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 6, 2018

“That’s the thing, not taking the chances when we’re creating them. Last season we were scoring a lot of goals and they were going in and now they’re not.

“If we take those chances tonight the game looks a lot different. We can’t be letting teams get a start.

“From the first whistle, we didn’t start well enough, and that showed with them getting the two goals.

“In the second half I thought we did better, obviously, we had enough chances to get back into the game, but we didn’t take them and you get punished.”

In the build-up much was made of the atmosphere Red Star fans create, though Milner insists they were aware of what they were walking into.

“We knew [about the atmosphere],” he said. “The crowd was big for them and it’s been a long time since they’ve been in the Champions League, it was always going to be a big game.

“Napoli came here and found it tough as well, so it’s a tough place to come, but we expected that.”