Liverpool versus Newcastle United ended up being an extremely intense affair, with both sides putting on spirited displays.
The hosts started the game with key absences in Darwin Nunez and Thiago, while Newcastle were able to field their brand new signing Alexander Isak.
The £60m man made an instant impact as he flashed a thundering strike past Allison to give the Magpies a first-half advantage.
After acquiring the lead, Newcastle players adopted a strategy of flopping onto the floor after every bit of contact, in order to waste time and kill Liverpool’s tempo.
In the second 45, the Reds looked far more dangerous, with their signature passing combinations coming off with higher precision.
Soon enough, Roberto Firmino met Mo Salah’s pass with a first-time strike to level things up, and the hunt for the winner was on.
Newcastle put up a stoic defence, and of course, took to the floor whenever possible.
Their time-wasting antics had Anfield riled up, and even Liverpool’s bench was extremely animated.
Jurgen Klopp looked incensed on multiple occasions, and the substitutes didn’t hide their displeasure either.
It all culminated in a grandstand finish, as Fabio Caravalho converted a volley from close range, sending Anfield into the rapture, and sparking a flare in the technical areas.
An altercation occurred between the coaching personnel following the goal, while Liverpool subs passionately celebrated in the background.
Thiago looked ecstatic, Klopp embraced the goal scorer, and Matip…teased an RKO.
But the highlight from the bench has to be Darwin Nunez, who despite missing the game, managed to provide plenty of entertainment.
The Uruguayan is known to possess plenty of ‘pashun’, and he put it all on display yesterday.
Every instance of a Newcastle player diving onto the pitch was met with a condemnatory ‘p#ta’ by the striker.
Despite not being well-versed in English, the 23-year-old is pretty familiar with one particular phrase, and he made sure to whip it out after Liverpool scored the winner.
As seen in this clip, Nunez climbed atop the bench and exclaimed ‘Eff You’ towards the Newcastle area, while flailing his arms around in celebration.
That certainly got the ‘dawg’ meter going.
The striker is now eligible to play for the Reds in the upcoming Merseyside Derby, a game which simply demands passion.
It’ll be interesting to see how he gets on as tensions will undoubtedly flare up again.
