Liverpool 4 – 3 Villarreal
The Reds: Mac Allister 36’ 65’, Araujo 45+2, Wirtz 69’
Yellow Submarine: Mikautadze 4’, Cardona 29’, Oluwaseyi 87’
Pre-Match
Liverpool have precisely eleven fit players and they’re all on the pitch.
Kidding. Mostly. Tsimikas comes in for Kerkez, Gakpo returns from injury, in for Barcola, and Wirtz and Isak are both available from the bench. Which means that Lewis Koumas will be running at people. Munoz, however, did not make the bench which is a bit concerning, especially after his performance on the weekend.
Otherwise…
“WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE, A YELLOW SUBMARINE, A YELLOW SUBMARINE…”
First Half
It hasn’t yet been five minutes, but it’s fair to ask, “is Virgil van Dijk drunk?” The normally imperious and unshakable captain already made two massive errors, and the second one—a headed “clearance” that went backward, directly to the Villarreal attacker—led to the opening goal of the match.
Twenty minutes in and Liverpool have not come close to getting to grips of this match. The visitors haven’t created more since the goal, but have fizzed a few dangerous balls into the box, which absolutely could’ve led to more if they’d found a player in yellow. In attack, Liverpool have been pretty disjointed—which can only be expected—with the noteable exception of Rio, who once again looks The Business.
Villarreal have made it two and it was both too easy and well deserved. Liverpool are getting overrun. Tsimikas kept the attackers onside, but there was also no one tracking the runners.
Macca pulls one back! The Argentine gets his head to a corner and brilliantly flicks it into the far corner!
And Big Ronnie even things up with the last kick (or header) of the ball for the half! Game on! Villarreal defended the initial corner, but the ball came back out, and Rio put in a dangerous ball that the defender let go, not realizing Araujo was there to nod it home!
Second Half
For the second match running, Iraola makes a halftime sub, bringing Florian Wirtz on for Araujo. Gravenberch moves mack to right back.
Liverpool look great in the opening fifteen minutes of the half, but haven’t quite found the finish to take their first lead of the match. On another note, it’s always a bit jarring to see a more or less competent display from a ref at Anfield, especially if that performance is coming from A Bald.
MACCA MAKES IT 3-2!!! And Rio has his second assist of the night! Rio once again beat his man, drives to the byline, and squares it for Mac Allister who manages to squeeze the first-time effort just under the crossbar and in!
Iraola responds to the goal by bringing on Isak for Koumas, and Villarreal must be thinking to themselves that this night could get ugly.
And they’d be right! Gakpo plays Wirtz in, and the German takes a touch and then slots with his left. 4-2 to the Scousers.
Fair fucks to Villarreal. They came to play. And got punished. But fair fucks nonetheless!
Now Barcola and Gomez come on for Jacquet and Rio. The latter put in what very well might be his best performance yet, and is in with a shout for Man of the Match. He was absolutely electrifying under the lights at Anfield tonight. The defenders are probably relieved that they “only” have to face Barcola now.
Villarreal remind us that this isn’t over yet! It’s a well worked goal, but probably should’ve been defended better (or at all).
As the clock strikes 90 minutes, Liverpool have a chance to take it to the corner flag and waste some time. But they don’t, because that is an impossible challenge for these Reds. I love trying to score goals, of course, but at a certain point, such as with 90 minutes on the clock, I would very much like to win the match.
Final Thoughts
Are you not entertained?! It’s still early days for Andoni Iraola, but his Reds are showing the same kind of resilience that we came to expect from Jurgen Klopp’s best sides. It would’ve been easy to fall to pieces after an early mistake leading to a goal, and especially after the second, but they stuck with it and their quality eventually shone through. A big 3 points, and The Reds remain perfect in the Champions League.
