My reaction and player ratings after Liverpool won an instant classic against Milan to open their account in the 2021/22 Champions League.
Forget Fury vs. Wilder III, Liverpool and AC Milan put on a spectacular show for their trilogy fight at Anfield on Wednesday night in the Champions League.
Liverpool started furiously, and looked to be on course for a routing after 20 minutes after Trent Alexander-Arnold had put them 1–0 up courtesy of a fortunate Fikayo Tomori deflection and referee Szymon Marciniak awarded the Reds a penalty for handball off an Andy Robertson shot.
But Mo Salah’s poor effort from the spot was well saved by Mike Maignan, and the momentum immediately swung in favour of the Rossoneri. Milan began to have chances, and were rewarded for their pressure when Ante Rebić struck past Alisson, who will be disappointed to not have saved, to level the scores.
The equilibrium lasted less than two minutes though, as Milan took the lead in stunning fashion in their very next attack as they sliced through a poor Liverpool defence and Brahim Diaz slid the ball into an open net.
Down at half-time in their first UCL match at Anfield in front of a sold-out crowd in a year and a half, Liverpool did not take the situation lying down. Within 5 minutes of the restart, Divock Origi found with Mo Salah with a clever pass from which the Egyptian capitalised with a world class finish past the impressive Maignan in the Milan goal to restore parity.
With the game finely poised, both sides had chances and the game was highly entertaining. But Liverpool slowly began to wrestle back control and were rewarded for their constant pressure as captain fantastic mk 2. Jordan Henderson powered a magnificent strike home from outside the box following a corner to put Liverpool 3–2 up.
The Reds then did well to comfortably see the game out, despite an inexplicable five minutes added on — in another instantiation of Thomas’ Razor, the idea that whenever a game is within a goal, the added time at the end of the game will always be 2 minutes more than what it should actually be.
With the other fixture in the group ending in a 0–0 draw, Liverpool will be delighted to have taken the early initiative in what promises to be a very tough group B. Up next: Porto at the Dragão.
Player Ratings
Alisson — 6. He’ll be disappointed to have let in the first goal. Nothing he could have done about the second. Was otherwise solid and caught some good balls to deny Milan’s attackers chances through the air.
Alexander-Arnold — 8. Dropped off the pace a little during the second half and was arguably at fault for one of the goals when he didn’t properly track back, but in all other aspects it was a vintage Trent performance. Quality going forward and lockdown defence to complement his crosses. Telepathic connection with Mo Salah.
Matip — 7. Probably at fault for the second goal. Quite a baffling inclusion in the starting XI as surely Virgil needs the minutes.
Gomez — 6. Off the pace all night and was lucky not to be exposed by the pacy Leão.
Robertson — 8. Played very well down the left hand side despite having limited support from Diogo Jota. Defended very well and put in some great crosses. Also won a penalty.
Keïta — 7. Did the little things well but just lacks that spark. You can never rely on Naby for a game-changing moment, he just ticks on well as part of the greater cause. Good minutes for him though.
Fabinho — 9 (MotM). Controlled the game from the middle of the park and halted many Milan counter-attacks with his characteristic defensive solidity. What would Liverpool do without him?
Henderson — 7. Obviously he’ll be remembered for his screamer, but otherwise he was a bit slow and failed to adapt to the fast-paced nature of the game.
Salah — 8. Caused countless problems for the Milan defence, especially in the first 20 or so minutes. Shame that he missed his penalty — it looked like he was trying to go down the middle but just missed his spot. Liverpool’s main man.
Origi — 7. Klopp seemed to have a slip of the tongue in his post-match interview when he appeared to lament that no-one wanted to take him off his hands over the summer, but that blip aside, Origi had a lovely assist for Salah’s goal and actually seemed to thrive in the quick Liverpool attack. He went off injured — hopefully it isn’t too serious. I’d love to see him get more minutes moving forward.
Jota — 5. Non-existent presence and exerted essentially zero influence on the game. Needs to improve his physicality and add more elements to his game than just goalscoring.
SUBS
Jones — 8. First appearance of the season for Curtis and he didn’t waste a second. Looked very sharp on the ball and had a shot that just missed the target. Let’s hope to see more of him in the absence of Elliott.
Oxlade-Chamberlain — 2. Once again, he literally didn’t do a single thing right. Ran into defenders, didn’t find the right passes, and had a poor attitude through it all. Looks selfish and childish. Very disappointing cameo.
Mané — 3. Had a 1-on-1 that he completely bottled. Liverpool simply cannot rely on him as a goalscorer anymore. It’s quite sad to see just how much he’s regressed in only a couple of seasons.
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