After the car crash of Naples, Liverpool’s Champions League journey finally jolted into top gear with a dramatic late victory at Anfield.
And it was unlikely hero Joel Matip who produced the winner just a minute from the end of a pulsating contest, with a header that exposed Ajax weakness at set pieces. Chief mechanic Jurgen Klopp will take much heart from the fact that his side’s engine finally seems to be running sweetly again, after a dynamic performance in an exciting contest with Ajax that produced the deserved dramatic finale.
Yet they were forced to leave it so late after being undone by another moment of careless, switched-off defending to gift the Dutch side an equaliser, and - chiefly - some poor finishing which has become a worrying trend for the Reds.
That even extended to a terrible late miss from substitute Darwin Nunez, an £85million summer signing don’t forget, who dragged wide of virtually an open goal after some delicate work from Mohamed Salah, who saw a shot deflected onto the bar soon after.
There was another moment of poor defending to fret about, when Daley Blind should have scored with a header in the 75th minute with only Ajax’s third attempt on goal of the night.
But the journey back towards redemption, both from the humiliation against Napoli and last season’s final heartbreak in this competition, has begun, thanks to Matip’s towering header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner and a fine goal from Salah.
Yet if so much of the game displayed the Liverpool who have marauded across Europe under the reign of Kaiser Klopp, then Ajax’s equaliser was still a jolting reminder of the frailties of this season.
It came out of the blue but wasn’t a surprise, given it was a goal so similar to so many conceded this season already. There was no danger as the Dutch side shuttled the ball out on the left, through a routine channel.
But there was no pressure on the ball either, or the space in the channel, with Salah and Harvey Elliott too casual in their defensive work. It allowed Edson Alvarez far too much time and room to make his pass.
That found the run of Steven Berghuis, who breezed past Alexander-Arnold and pulled back for Mohammed Kudus to rifle a lashed left-foot shot into the roof of the net.
It was a bitter-sweet goal for the blue half of Liverpool because the Ghana international forward should have been doing that for Everton, only for his club to renege on a verbal agreement they made with the Goodison Park club.
If that exposed Liverpool’s weakness, the fact it was an equaliser also showed another area which has cost them dearly, both at the end of last season and through the first eight games of this campaign.
Their finishing has been under par for some time. The Champions League final was the most painful expression of that and here, they spurned so many good chances to extend their lead before the break.
Can Liverpool win the Champions League this season? Have your say in the comments!
Salah’s goal to open the game was a cool finish after some intelligent play and delightful footwork from Diogo Jota, but then he flashed wide at the near post after more brilliant work by the same team-mate.
Luis Diaz also missed a couple, dragging one golden chance wide from Van Dijk’s header down, while the Dutch defender himself should probably have done better with two headers from set pieces and Jota also shot wide.
In the end, it didn’t matter, with that 89th-minute winner from Matip’s joyful intervention, but there is still room for improvement for the Reds.
