Andy Hunter was at Anfield to see Liverpool make it two wins from two in the Europa League. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Jurgen Klopp speaks to TNT. “Good … a really good start … we lost the rhythm slightly … we gave too many set pieces away … we played too much around the formation … we should have had more direction … but you take what you get … it was really mature and professional … Ryan Gravenberch is a top bloke and I am really happy for him … he is super-involved for us … he can now get rhythm … when we can bring him in the right spaces he is really incredible … everyone is really pleased for him … a really nice story tonight … I hate thinking about the next game … but we have a short turnaround for Brighton and last year we were awful there … we have two of our strikers unavailable so we will have to do it differently … we can learn a lot from this game because with rhythm we look one way, without rhythm and acceleration we look the other, and with the same set of players … that’s why it’s so important to keep the ball rolling … we have plenty of things to learn, and we will lose that.”
Alexis and Kevin Mac Allister talk to TNT. “It was really nice for the family,” says Alexis. “My dad was here but I’m sure all my family was watching on the television. I guess he cried a little bit.”
Kevin, resting a loving hand on his brother’s shoulder, adds: “It was very amazing for me, my family and my team, it’s a dream to play here. Of course we wanted to win today but Liverpool is a great team. I tried to enjoy it, and this moment with my family, it’s really important. Maybe Liverpool come to Belgium in the last match, it’s our revenge, eh?!”
They’re then asked if they’re going to swap shirts. “Yeah yeah, we will, we will,” begins Alexis, before modestly catching himself. “Or I dunno if he wants from another player! [Kevin giggles] But if he wants of course we will!” The pair walk off together smiling having conducted the sweetest post-match interview in Europa League history.
A beaming Ryan Gravenberch speaks to TNT Sports. “It’s great, it feels super good … it was the easiest goal of my career so far … it doesn’t matter, a goal is a goal! … when you give a player minutes you get confidence, and I think that’s it … the players are really nice, a good group … I am just enjoying it … Liverpool did a great job to buy such good players … we are in such a good mood … I was very happy the fans gave me such a good feeling [with the standing ovation he received as he went off] that I want to give something back.”
Union boss Alexander Blessin gathers his troops in the centre of the pitch and delivers a pep-talk. His side were second best, but they showed character to hang on in there, and towards the end of the game gave Liverpool’s nerves a good old jangle. Had Amoura spotted Nilsson free in the centre, had Rodriguez done likewise with Amoura, we could be talking about a different result. But the decision making was poor, the final ball lacking. Liverpool scored twice on the break, and will be happier with the result than their performance. The other game in the group finishes Toulouse 1-0 LASK, and Jurgen Klopp’s side are in the box seat in Group E going into the double-header with the French team.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | Toulouse | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Union Saint Gilloise | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| 4 | LASK | 2 | -3 | 0 |
FULL TIME: Liverpool 2-0 Union Saint-Gilloise
The whistle goes. Liverpool weren’t particularly impressive, but two goals on the counter were enough to see off a Union side who grew increasingly confident as the game went on.
90 min +5: Puertas slides in late on Gomez, just to the right of the Union box. He really should be booked, but the referee hasn’t shown a single card tonight – it’s been a friendly-enough affair - and clearly wants to keep it like that.
90 min +4: The relief around Anfield is palpable … but Liverpool remain their sloppy selves, Mac Allister playing a blind backpass that lets in Amoura. Alisson digs his team-mate out of a hole by saving with a strong arm.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Union (Jota 90+2)
… opts to go short instead. An eventual cross is cleared, and Diaz tries to break free down the middle. He can’t control, and clanks into trouble, but the ball breaks off Sadiki to Jota, who strides down the inside-left channel and slots calmly across Moris and into the bottom right.
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90 min +2: … but Liverpool are feeling the pressure now, and Alisson carelessly passes out of play. Sykes prepares to fling in a long throw, and …
90 min +1: Liverpool deal with the corner, as the first of five added minutes ticks round.
90 min: Rodriguez takes on Quansah down the right. Had he looked up, Amoura was absolutely clear in the middle. But he’s hoping to work room for a shot himself. He can’t get past Quansah, who pokes away to concede another corner.
88 min: Castro-Montes sits Tsimikas down with a crisp turn, then fizzes a low cross into the box from the right. Alisson flops on it with a couple of blue shirts homing in. This is unnecessarily nervy for Liverpool now; they’ve been really careless tonight.
86 min: Jones bobbles a low drive wide left. Moris had it covered.
85 min: Szoboszlai fires wide from distance. Then it’s the end of the road for Kevin Mac Allister. He’s replaced by Sykes.
84 min: Gomez flings in long from the right. Union clear and Sadiki nearly releases Amoura on the counter with a long rake. The visitors certainly fancy this.
82 min: Amoura crosses from the left. Quansah leans into the back of Rodriguez, who wants the penalty but isn’t getting one. It would have been soft. But you’ve seen them given, you know.
81 min: Another Union corner comes to nought. The wastefulness is catching.
80 min: Liverpool come so close to the second. Konate’s long diagonal pass releases Diaz down the inside left. Diaz chests down, enters the box, and steers a shot across Moris and off the base of the right-hand post. Elliott can’t convert the rebound, then Diaz slams a shot against his own man Jota, but the flag goes up for offside. Diaz had gone too early to meet Konate’s pass, and the whole period of play is moot.
79 min: Gravenberch has been one of Liverpool’s better performers tonight, scoring his first goal for his new club in the process. But his race is run this evening. On comes the new hero of the Kop, Dominik Szoboszlai.
78 min: Liverpool draw some of the sting out of the game with a period of sterile possession.
76 min: Castro-Montes chases after a long ball bouncing down the inside-right channel and attempts to Robbie Fowler a screamer into the net from 25 yards. The pastiche flies 25 yards over the bar. But that’s another half-chance for Union, who are beginning to sense the opportunity for an equaliser.
75 min: A double change for Union, who swap out Amani and Vanhoutte for Rasmussen and Sadiki.
74 min: Tsimikas spots a pocket of space in the centre of the park. He drops a shoulder to race into it, then blazes a wild shot over the bar.
73 min: Rodriguez and Quansah tussle hard for the ball down the Union right. Quansah does exceptionally well to ensure the Ecuador striker doesn’t tear clear. It costs Liverpool a corner. One leads to another, then Liverpool finally clear their lines. The hosts aren’t playing well, and the denizens of Anfield are getting crotchety.
71 min: Jota takes matters into his own hands by blazing down the left. But nobody’s kept up with him and he’s forced to cut back for Jones, who slowly one-twos his way with Elliott out of play for a goal kick.
70 min: Liverpool have dialled down the effort and are beginning to take liberties here. Union are getting closer and closer to making them pay.
68 min: Nilsson and Terho make way for Lapoussin and Rodriguez. Lapoussin immediately wins another Union corner, and Machida heads this one wide.
66 min: Amoura dribbles down the left and wins a corner off Konate. Had he looked up earlier, he’d have seen Nilsson in acres on his own. Nothing comes of the corner. What a waste.
65 min: Some clown has been shining a laser into Moris’s face. Hopefully the stewards will find whoever it is and give them an old-fashioned clip around the ear and/or a toe up the jacksie. What is wrong with people?
63 min: Alexander-Arnold, recovering from a hamstring injury, has finished his shift tonight. He’s replaced by Gomez, and Alisson takes the armband. Gomez’s first act is to curl a delicious ball in from a deep position on the right. Diaz mistimes his dive and can’t connect with his head. Goal kick.
62 min: There used to be a Liverpool fanzine called Another Wasted Corner. Well, that.
61 min: Gravenberch sends Diaz scampering down the left. Diaz falls over, but springs up again and passes back to Gravenberch, who opens his body and sends a curler towards the top right. Moris extends to top over the bar.
60 min: This is really scrappy now, the ball seemingly uncontrollable.
58 min: Jones takes a whack from distance. Deflected. Over. Alexander-Arnold sends the set piece in. Quansah heads wildly over but commits a foul in doing so anyway.
57 min: Tsimikas barrels down the left and digs out a cross that Jota can’t quite get his head to in the middle. Liverpool come again, Alexander-Arnold whipping one in from the right. Burgess heads behind and nothing comes of this corner either.
55 min: Gravenberch chest-passes a floating ball down the middle and into the box for Diaz, who briefly looks like getting to it before Moris. But the keeper is on point.
53 min: Alexis Mac Allister swings in from the right. Jota rises highest to win a header and aims for the top right. A bit too close to Moris, though, and the keeper tips over the bar. Nothing comes of the corner.
51 min: Alisson makes up for his error by safely catching the second corner. Union have been second best tonight yet they’ve had their chances.
50 min: Puertas dribbles his way down the left and into the Liverpool box. Konate sticks out a perfectly timed leg for a corner that Alisson aims a punch at, only to fail to connect. Quansah is forced to bash the loose ball out for another corner before anyone in blue can poke home from close range.
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49 min: All a bit scrappy during the opening exchanges of the second half.
47 min: With both of his sons now prowling around the Anfield pitch, Colo Mac Allister looks down from the stand with pride and a quiet dignity.
Liverpool get the second half underway, having made three changes. Luis Diaz, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister come on for Salah, Nunez and Endo.
Half-time postbag: British-fans-of-Union special!
“As a Brit in Belgium - and a Union season ticket holder - I’d just like to say that, although we last won the league in the 1930s, thanks to the vagaries of the Belgian league system that doesn’t tell the whole story. Over the last two ‘regular’ seasons we’ve probably spent more time at the top of the table than any other team - including at the end of the regular season. It’s just we have this barking mad play-off system over here which means finishing top doesn’t necessarily mean you win the league. Mind you, still better than when I first started watching them in the third tier” – Dave Lloyd
“Like many other Brits, FC Union St Gilles were my ‘Brussels team’ when I lived and worked in Brussels 2015-2018, covering Brexit. If you haven’t already, do Google Images their ground - delightful 9,000 capacity [sic!] in woods on the edge of a Brussels park, with an Art Deco clubhouse. Mostly standing. Look at those stands, and imagine thinking: ‘in a few years, this team will be playing Liverpool in Europe!’” – Matt Tempest (formerly of this parish, and no doubt still reeling at the shock of his beloved Bradford City telling Mark Hughes to do one)
Half-time reading. Liverpool travel to Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday. Here’s what the Seagulls did in France earlier this evening.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-0 Union Saint-Gilloise
There’s just enough time for Konate to hold off Nilsson as he rampages down the right, and the whistle goes with Union giving as good as they’re getting, despite that gift of a goal. Gravenberch will be happy with his first strike in Liverpool colours, but Jurgen Klopp may not be so content with his team’s overall performance. He sprints off down the tunnel to prepare his half-time speech.
45 min +1: Liverpool don’t score from Union’s corner this time, so there’s an improvement.
45 min: Liverpool nearly give up an equaliser immediately. Amoura dinks the ball past Konate and beats him in a footrace down the middle. Alisson comes out of his box to claim only for Amoura to chip over him … but there’s not enough juice behind the shot and Konate is able to make up the ground and hoick clear for another corner.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Union SG (Gravenberch 44)
Union win a corner down the left. It does them no good whatsoever. Some shoving in the box. The whistle goes for a foul, and Alisson gets Liverpool off on the immediate counter. Alexander-Arnold exchanges passes with Nunez down the left. He curls low and hard towards the bottom right. Moris spills a shot he should hold, and Gravenberch slots into the bottom left from a couple of yards.
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42 min: Union’s fans continue to dominate the soundtrack at an otherwise silent Anfield. The home team have lost all momentum and their supporters are responding similarly.
40 min: Liverpool pass it around the midfield to little effect, all of their early verve long gone. “If both Mac Allister brothers are at Anfield, does this mean nobody is Home Alone?” wonders Peter Bradshaw Gary Byrne, because somebody had to.
38 min: Castro-Montes dribbles in cutely from the left, beating a couple of challenges before attempting to slide Nilsson free down the channel and into the box. Nilsson spins but can’t control and the ball sails through to Alisson.
37 min: One corner leads to another, which leads to Alexander-Arnold slicing a ludicrously ambitious long-distance drive deep into the stand.
36 min: Konate shovels a pass down the middle and finds Nunez to the left of the D. Nunez takes a touch before belting a rising shot towards the top left. Moris parries around the post for a corner.
35 min: Tsimikas takes the free kick and looks for Quansah at the far stick. His overhit delivery sails harmlessly out for a goal kick.
34 min: A free kick for Liverpool out on the left, Elliott having been hauled back by Puertas. Liverpool load the box.
32 min: He’s back up and good to continue. “I think I’m going to have to replay my earlier email,” quips Gary Naylor, at the discovery of VAR at this stage of the Europa League. Well done, Gary, good process.
31 min: Amoura is down getting treatment after running slap-bang into Quansah.
30 min: Gravenberch strolls down the left and cuts back towards Jota, waiting in space ten yards out, only for Kevin Mac Allister to calmly step in and clear. Union are growing in confidence.
29 min: That Nilsson chance has got the Union fans going. They’re making the majority of the noise right now, with Anfield otherwise in an increasingly pensive mood.
27 min: Jota juggles his way into the Union box only to lose control and go over in the vague environs of Kevin Mac Allister. The home fans howl for a penalty, but they’re not getting one, and the VAR folk (sorry, Gary Naylor) agree by quickly completing their check. No fiasco this time, it’s the correct decision.
26 min: Castro-Montes threatens to outstrip Tsimikas down the right. Tsimikas slides in and handles. The resulting free kick is whipped to Nilsson, who batters a header over the bar from close range. Unchallenged, he really should have scored.
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24 min: Nunez works and scraps to win a Liverpool throw in the midfield. An appreciative round of applause from the home faithful. The big man’s long won them over, despite his love of the comedic miss.
22 min: Alexander-Arnold is afforded all the time in the world to quarterback a long pass down the inside-right channel for Salah. The bounce is unkind to Salah, allowing Moris to claim it on the edge of his box.
21 min: Elliott has been lively too, and here he dances down the left, reaching the byline and standing one up at the far post for Salah, whose header flies straight at Moris. “Is it wrong to be watching this match purely in the hope of seeing a repeat of the Diaz ‘goal’ and then Klopp’s face when he realises that there’s no VAR? Surely the Gods cannot be so kind twice?” Guess which team our old pal Gary Naylor supports. No prizes.
19 min: That was a lovely move by Liverpool, though, and Gravenberch has been very impressive in these opening stages, strutting around regally. “Nunez the perennial blooper,” suggests Jeff Sax.
17 min: An astonishing miss! Gravenberch turns in the centre circle and sets Elliott off on a power dribble down the middle. He slips Salah into the box down the right. Salah rolls the ball across and tees it up for Nunez, who, six yards out, opens his body and … slices comically wide left. That’s Darwin for you. He’ll probably go on to score a dipping volley from 30 yards now.
15 min: … but Liverpool do seem up for this, and now Nunez has a whack from distance. Wide and always curling right. Liverpool have currently completed 102 passes to Union’s 21.
14 min: Elliott picks up a loose Kevin Mac Allister pass out from the back and should shoot from the edge of the box, but elects to dribble closer instead. His eventual shot is weak and easily cleared. Another big chance goes by.
12 min: That was a fine shot from distance by Gravenberch. The sort of no-nonsense piledriving threat from midfield not seen around these parts since the days of Jan Molby and Steve McMahon. “A pair of brothers squaring off is exactly the kind of stuff that makes continental football interesting,” argues Peter Oh. “I hope Jürgen Klopp will sub Alexis Mac Allister on, with instructions to stick out his tongue, poke ribs, and dish out knuckle sandwiches.”
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10 min: Liverpool have the ball in the net, but it won’t count. Gravenberch shifts his feet near the right-hand edge of the D and pearls a shot towards the top right. Moris parries but only straight to Nunez, who walks the ball into the net. But Nunez was well offside when the initial shot was taken. There’ll be no controversy about this one.
8 min: Amani goes down with an aggrieved look on his face. He suggests to the referee that he’s been deliberately done, but it looked as though he’d run into the back of an unwitting Endo. He’s told to get up and play on.
6 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. Salah wears the slightly irritated look of a man who knows he should have put his team one up.
5 min: Alexander-Arnold spins his way down the middle only to be barged in the back by Nilsson. They play the free kick short, but the move breaks down. However, Quansah wins a loose-ball challenge in the centre circle, and a fortunate deflection off Gravenberch sends Salah free down the middle. He should score, but gets down to smother at his feet.
3 min: … so having mentioned Liverpool’s early tempo, they calm it down and stroke it around the back patiently.
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1 min: It’s not long before Liverpool start pressing. The presence of Elliott and Nunez nearly catches Machida cold, but the midfielder, a team-mate of Endo in the Japan national side, sorts himself out just in time to clear.
Union get the game started. They’re kicking towards the Kop in this first half.
The teams are out! Union in third-choice blue as opposed to their first-choice yellow. A provocative dash of Everton in a stadium otherwise swathed in Liverpudlian red? Trent Alexander-Arnold shakes hands and swaps pennants, captain of his club for just the third time. We’ll be off in a minute or two.
Jurgen Klopp speaks to TNT and is inevitably asked about that VAR brouhaha. “The headlines unintentionally I created, I said at the press conference I am completely over it … we have nothing to do with it any more … it is now for other people to take care of that … the week started on Monday … since then, we have just focused on this game.”
Liverpool have an exceptional record against Belgian clubs. At Anfield, they’ve played seven and won seven, scoring 17 goals and conceding just five. They’ve also beaten a side from Belgium in two major finals: Brugge in the 1976 Uefa Cup, Brugge again in the 1978 European Cup. So Union are up against it tonight, though at least they’ve never accumulated any historical scar tissue of their own: this is the first time they’ve ever played a team from England, so their slate is clean. They also arrive on a six-match unbeaten run away in Europe, winning four of those games. So les Unionistes – who last won their domestic league in 1935 and the Belgian Cup in 1914 – will be rocking up with plenty of confidence of their own.
A reminder of what happened in Liverpool’s first game in Group E. Luis Diaz scored; it counted.
Liverpool name a stronger side than many would have expected. Mohamed Salah starts up front alongside Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota, Alisson keeps goal with cup specialist Caoimhin Kelleher sidelined by a training-ground injury that required 12 stitches, and Trent Alexander-Arnold is back after a month out with a hamstring injury. Salah and Alisson are the only two players who keep their starting place in the wake of the 2-1 defeat at Spurs.
Kevin Mac Allister starts for Union Saint Gilloise. His brother Alexis has to make do with a place on the Liverpool bench. They played together for Argentinos Juniors between 2016 and 2019.
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The teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Quansah, Tsimikas, Elliott, Gravenberch, Endo, Salah, Nunez, Jota.
Subs: Gomez, van Dijk, Diaz, Szoboszlai, A Mac Allister, Jones, Robertson, Matip, Chambers, Doak, Jaros, Mrozek.
Union Saint Gilloise: Moris, Castro-Montes, K Mac Allister, Burgess, Machida, Terho, Amani, Vanhoutte, Puertas, Nilsson, Amoura.
Subs: Rasmussen, Eckert, Lapoussin, Teklab, Rodriguez, Imbrechts, Sykes, Sadiki, Wenssens, Huygevelde, Leysen.
Referee: Morten Krogh (Denmark).
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Preamble
Tonight’s video assistant referee is Roi Reinshreiber. Hopefully that’s the last time we’ll be mentioning him, then. Kick off is at 8pm BST. It’s on!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Toulouse | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Union Saint Gilloise | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | LASK | 1 | -2 | 0 |
