After losing their first game to Napoli, Liverpool kickstarted their Champions League campaign in an enthralling encounter at Anfield. The game should have been over in the first half, but as usual Liverpool did things the hard way in Europe.
Salzburg, showed their intentions from early, and Takumi Minamino shot just wide 2 minutes into the game. Liverpool came close 5 minutes later, but a ball into the box just avoided Roberto Firmino and was gathered by Salzburg keeper Cican Stankovic. Liverpool, broke the deadlock in the 9th minute, when Sadio Mane and Firmino did a tidy one-two and Mane slipped the ball past Stankovic. The Premier League leaders, went into a two goal lead in the 25th minute, when Henderson and Salah exchanged passes, and then Henderson fed Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right, and he fired a ball in for Andy Robertson to score his second Liverpool goal from six yards. Just before the half hour mark; Fabinho sent a lovely ball over the top, but Salah could only shoot wide. Shortly after, Minamino, continued to cause problems and his left footed effort was saved by Adrian.
Liverpool, made it 3 on 36 minutes. Mane's left footed cross from was met by Firmino, but Stankovic parried his header and the rebound was put in by Salah despite the keeper getting a hand on it. Being 3-0 down, many other teams would just roll over, but Salzburg were not intimidated. Just two minutes after Salah's goal Zambian Patson Daka shot over the bar. Just after Daka's shot, they were back in the game. Liverpool lost the ball on the right, and Hwang Hee-Chan sharply turned Virgil van Dijk, before unleashing a shot into the far corner past Adrian, a tidy goal by the Korean.
At the start of the second period, Adrian was lucky that he was not punished, as he hit a back pass straight at Daka, on another day the ball could have ended up anywhere. Liverpool, should have been 4-1 up in the 53rd minute, when Mane did some great work on the left wing, and kept the ball in before finding Georginio Wijnaldum in the box, but the Dutch internationals' effort was well wide of goal. Only a last ditch Joe Gomez challenge stopped Liverpool from having their lead cut to just one goal in the 54th minute, as Salzburg continued to probe as they were clearly unfazed by the Anfield atmosphere. A minute later however, Salzburg did make it 3-2, when Minamino crashed a volley in from Hwang's cross. Liverpool were far too open, and 3 minutes later, it was almost 3 all, but teenage Hungarian midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai could only hit the side netting. Come the 60th minute, and Salzburg indeed did draw level. Alexander-Arnold gave the ball away, and the Austrian champions moved up the pitch quickly, Liverpool failed to pick up the substitute Majeed Ashimeru, who found Minamoto, and his ball across the box was put in by another sub, 19-year-old starlet Erling Haland. Gomez, had failed to pick up Haland, and Liverpool were duly punished. Salzburg were jubilant, and even their manager ran down to join the players in celebrating with their travelling fans. Liverpool fans know the horrible feeling when you give up a 3-0 lead, but you knew they would score again here, the issue was whether or not they could stop the opposition from scoring again, as their concentration seemed all over the place.
Liverpool were to get their winner in the 69th minute, and it was Salah with his second. The Egyptian seized on a header from Firmino and slammed a volley in to get the much needed 3 points. Liverpool had earlier been aided by Genk holding group leaders Napoli to a goalless draw, and almost got a 5th goal late on, but Mane could not get his head on a quickly taken Alexander-Arnold corner, that had similarities to the famous corner that made Divock Origi's goal against Barcelona last season.
So Liverpool, got the win, but there is definitely room for improvement. Gomez deputising for the injured Joel Matip looked a little off the pace, partly to be expected and van Dijk had a rare occasion where he did not shower himself in glory either. Attacking-wise the Reds played some glorious stuff, but defensively there needs to be some fine tuning if they are to get one over former manager Brendan Rodgers on Saturday, and get past Leicester to continue their 100% start to the league season.
@DubulDee
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