Liverpool came from two goals down to beat Villarreal
4-3 at Anfield on Tuesday, keeping their perfect start to the Champions League
campaign.
Villarreal coach Inigo Perez looked set to get one
over on his former boss, Andoni Iraola, as the Spaniards deservedly went 2-0 up
inside 30 minutes through Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona. But the
visitors twice failed to defend crosses into the box, and Alexis Mac Allister
and Ronald Araujo levelled before half-time.
Mac Allister scored his second 25 minutes from time,
and substitute Florian Wirtz completed the comeback. The win lifted Liverpool
alongside Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table with nine points from
three games.
Iraola left out all three of his forwards who each
cost more than £100 million ($133 million). Alexander Isak and Bradley Barcola
joined Wirtz on the bench, with one eye on Sunday's Premier League visit of
high-flying Brighton.
Villarreal took full advantage of a much-changed
Liverpool side and were gifted the opener after just four minutes. Virgil van
Dijk miscued a header back to Alisson Becker, and Mikautadze finished coolly
from close range.
Perez's managerial career began by chance. He was
denied a work permit to join Iraola as his assistant at Bournemouth and instead
took charge of Rayo Vallecano, where he had previously worked under Iraola. He
led the La Liga side to the Conference League final last season. His knowledge
of Iraola's system showed, as Villarreal opened Liverpool up at will at times
in the first half.
A fine team move led to the second goal, when Nathan
Saliba found the run of left-back Cardona, who steered the ball past Alisson.
Liverpool's attacking understudies had barely
threatened until Mac Allister's looping header from a Kostas Tsimikas corner
started the fightback. Rio Ngumoha then began to tease the Villarreal defence.
The first of the 18-year-old's two assists owed much to poor defending, as
Cardona let his cross go at the back post, unaware that Araujo was running in
to head the equaliser. That was the Uruguayan's last act, as he made way for
Wirtz at half-time.
Liverpool stepped up after the break. Ngumoha's pace
down the right opened up the Villarreal defence, and his low cross was smashed
in off the underside of the bar by Mac Allister. Three minutes later, Cody
Gakpo set up Wirtz for his first goal of the season, answering critics who
questioned his end product.
Liverpool remained shaky at the back, though, and Tani
Oluwaseyi set up a nervy finish by connecting sweetly with a cross from Ayoze
Perez. Liverpool held on to close in on the last 16, while Villarreal remain on
three points from their first three games.
Comments:
Leave a Reply