The first game week of this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign brought about quite a number of high-scoring classics.
While Man City emerged winners of an insane outing against RB Leipzig that ended 6-3 in favour of the hosts, and Ajax went away to Sporting and came back with a 5-1 win from Lisbon – one of the outings with additional historical importance to it, was when Liverpool welcomed AC Milan to Anfield.
The Milan outfit whose last appearance in the competition came in 2014, returned after a span of seven years and took part in a classic.
The two teams, who famously went head to head with each other in two Champions League finals since the turn of the century took part in another European football classic that ended 3-2 to the Merseyside outfit.
It was Liverpool who took the early lead courtesy of an own goal from Fikayo Tomori, and the Reds’ dominance in the early minutes also saw them being awarded a spot-kick.
Mohamed Salah stepped up, but Milan’s keeper Mike Maignan proved to be equal to the Egyptian’s effort as he kept Milan in the game.
And Maignan’s save proved to be influential as Milan turned it around in the closing minutes of the first half, with the help of two quickfire goals from Ante Rebic and Brahim Diaz.
Milan went into the away dressing room at Anfield, while leading against one of the more recent winners of the Champions League after a seven-year hiatus from the competition.
But Liverpool made full use of their experience in the competition when they came out all guns blazing in the second half, and it was Mohamed Salah who would redeem himself with a 48th-minute strike to level the scores.
Just when it felt like the contest could not get any better, Jordan Henderson stepped up with a brilliant right-footed half-volleyed strike that found the back of the net in style.
The goal took the roof off the hallowed stadium, as the capacity crowd’s celebrations truly showed what European nights at Anfield under the floodlights are all about.
However, none of the crowd’s reactions could hold a candle to Jürgen Klopp’s reaction – the Liverpool manager erupted on the touchline along with Thiago Alcántara who he was about to bring on to turn the game around.
Klopp picked up an equally jubilant Thiago in his arms as Liverpool found themselves ahead, and the Spaniard was sent on after the goal to try and close out the game for the Reds. Liverpool did exactly that, as they began their new European campaign with a win.
Jurgen Klopp lifting Thiago into the air though 😂 pic.twitter.com/2USi75G4Ss
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) September 15, 2021
