Liverpool fans held their collective breath and diverted their eyes to the referee. Had Joel Matip바카라s 89th-minute header crossed the line for a goal to seal a crucial win, even at this early stage in the UEFA Champions League? (More Football News)
The match official looked at his watch, gave the signal and Anfield went wild. With a late goal needing confirmation by goal-line technology, Liverpool beat Ajax 2-1 on Tuesday to claim its first points in this season바카라s UEFA Champions League.
바카라I wasn바카라t sure, to be honest,바카라 Matip said about his winner that ended his nine-year goal drought in the Champions League. 바카라When I saw the referee (award it), the emotions came out.바카라
It wasn바카라t just the result that was huge for Liverpool. It was also the way the English team performed, a week after the humiliation of its 4-1 loss at Napoli in the opening round of Group A games.
The pressing was better. The intensity was higher. Thiago Alcantara바카라s display in central midfield in his first start of the season after injury was hugely encouraging, knitting the team together.
This was more like Liverpool, even if the team wound up needing a last-gasp goal to see off the Dutch champions.
바카라Coming back from the horror show in Naples, it was important we showed a reaction,바카라 Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk said. 바카라It wasn바카라t easy 바카라 but it바카라s something to work on.바카라
Looking to make amends for that defeat in Italy which manager Jurgen Klopp described as the worst performance in his seven-year tenure, Liverpool started strongly and Mohamed Salah ended his run of seven Champions League games without a goal by putting the team ahead in the 17th.
Luis Diaz headed on a long clearance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Diogo Jota collected the ball and played the ball across to his right, and Salah took one touch to steady himself before shooting low inside the post.
Mohammed Kudus smashed a shot in off the underside of the crossbar for the equalizer in the 27th after Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez ran in behind Trent Alexander-Arnold and cut a cross back into the penalty area.
Liverpool was the better team for the majority of an end-to-end game but after substitute Darwin Nunez swept a shot wide and Salah hit a deflected effort against the post, it looked like it wasn바카라t going to be the home team바카라s night.
But after Matip바카라s late intervention 바카라 he met an outswinging corner with a header that had just crossed the line before being cleared away by a covering Ajax player 바카라 Liverpool will head into back-to-back group games against Rangers after the international break in good heart.
바카라I think everyone understood we had to put in a completely different shift for the game,바카라 Klopp said. 바카라We did that.바카라 Ajax was coming off a 4-0 win over Rangers last week.
Before kickoff, there was a period of silence as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who died last week at the age of 96. It was respectfully observed, except for a few random shouts that were quickly hushed.
It was Liverpool바카라s first game since the queen바카라s death. Players from both teams wore black armbands for the game.
