It can’t carry on like this, can it? Ridiculous Liverpool maintain winning start | OneFootball

Injury time is Arne time. Liverpool marked Arne Slot’s 47th birthday in what has become trademark fashion: with another decisive late goal. The specialists in drama at the death conjured a victory they seemed to have tossed away. Virgil van Dijk planted a 92nd-minute header into the Atletico Madrid net. Like Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha, like Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah before him, he got Liverpool a win from the jaws of a draw. “We found a way to win,” said Van Dijk. They have done it four times in the Premier League, now once in the Champions League.

Logically it cannot carry on like this. But, somehow, it did carry on like this. When Marcos Llorente seemed to have capped an Atletico comeback, his brace taking them from 2-0 down to the brink of a point, up popped Van Dijk, Liverpool winning another game of brinkmanship, looking flawed but finding a way.

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Van Dijk’s 92-minute winner was only Liverpool’s third latest this season (Reuters)

Perhaps it was revenge of sorts for Atletico’s 3-2 win at Anfield in 2020, eliminating the holders. For Diego Simeone, this was a different kind of explosive ending: the Atletico manager was sent off for his furious response to a supporter he said was abusing him. “They insult you throughout the entire match and you can't say anything because you're the manager,” he said. “My reaction was unjustifiable, but do you know what it's like to be insulted for 90 minutes?”

He was, though, generous about the winner itself. “A great, great goal by Virgil van Dijk,” he said. Between them, Simeone, Van Dijk and Llorente all achieved what had seemed the impossible, consigning the most expensive footballer in the history of the English game to a subplot. Alexander Isak made his debut, had a couple of shots – one wide, the other at Jan Oblak – and produced a neat flick to Florian Wirtz. He tired and was taken off after 58 minutes. “I was surprised by how fit he was,” said Slot, who had always planned to introduce Isak on this occasion and never intended to field him for the full 90 minutes.

But the drama occurred around him, after him, instead of him. There are different types of record-breakers and while Isak’s £125m fee makes him the biggest buy in the history of English football, Salah has rewritten history books with his goalscoring. Isak had struck on his Newcastle debut at Anfield, but not his Liverpool bow. He now finds himself 248 Liverpool goals behind Salah.

If some of the script stayed the same for Liverpool, with another remarkable finish, they bookended the game with goals. They had never previously been 2-0 up after six minutes of a European game. They were here, with Salah prominent. After those six minutes, the Egyptian had an assist, albeit a fortunate one, and a goal.

His has been a subdued start to the season, despite converting the pressure penalty at Burnley on Sunday, but he seemed transported back towards his best. Perhaps it was a coincidence it came on Isak’s debut. Perhaps, though, a man who is rarely overshadowed was making a point.

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Mohamed Salah doubled Liverpool’s lead inside six minutes (Action Images via Reuters)

Indeed, Liverpool were 2-0 up before Isak had even touched the ball. The first was, in some ways, an impressively bad goal, a poor free kick deflected in by a man who was trying to get out of the way of it. Yet the ball struck Andy Robertson’s heel to wrongfoot Oblak. Sometimes, though, managerial decisions just work. This was not the reason Slot brought Robertson into the side as he took the flailing Milos Kerkez out of the firing line, looking for defensive solidity which, it transpired, his side still lacked. But, for just the second time, the Scot was a scorer in the Champions League.

Liverpool’s second was altogether more intentional and typical, the type of one-two Salah often plays as he cuts infield. Ryan Gravenberch, who had won the free kick for the opener, returned the ball to him. Salah angled a shot past Oblak.

Salah was electric, close to a spectacular second with a curling shot, denied by the post when he should have extended Liverpool’s lead. There are days when he seems impossible to contain. This was the first such occasion in the current campaign.

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Isak’s debut was largely overshadowed by the madness around him (Action Images via Reuters)

And yet his misses, and those of his colleagues, could have come at a cost. “A game like this should not have gone to a late winner,” said Slot. Liverpool ought to have got a third goal earlier. Their visitors were irrepressible. “We showed the spirit of Atletico Madrid,” said Simeone. His side were without the injured Julian Alvarez but found a talisman in Llorente. “Marcos likes this stadium, I think,” said Simeone. The midfielder has only scored seven Champions League goals, but four have come at Anfield. Having spent £450m in a summer, perhaps that record gives Liverpool reasons to recruit Llorente next.

He halved the deficit when he poked in a shot after a pass from Giacomo Raspadori. Alisson was aggrieved that the offside Antoine Griezmann was in his line of vision; on a day of bemusing officiating, referee Maurizio Maurini had even tried to award a penalty when the ball struck Clement Lenglet’s stomach, so it was not the most contentious decision. It was nevertheless part of frantic, fantastic affair. “This is what Uefa probably wanted, a first game that could have been a quarter final or semi-final,” said Slot.

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Marcos Llorente looked to have done it again for Atletico at Anfield (Getty Images)

Atleti played their part, Llorente levelled with a sweetly-struck volley that nevertheless took a sizeable deflection off Alexis Mac Allister. Given the unwitting role Robertson played in the opener, Liverpool could scarcely complain about the misfortune. “It is not the first time we give away a 2-0 lead as well, which is not what we were known for last season,” said Slot.

But Liverpool rallied, as they have done before. Ridiculously, Van Dijk’s goal was only their fourth latest this season; Salah against Bournemouth and Burnley and Ngumoha had struck even deeper into matches. “We need to get back to winning a bit simpler,” said Robertson, a voice of reason. But instead, they are specialising in the spectacular at the end. And the watching Isak must have been wondering just what, exactly, he has joined.