In the clash of the clubs from the banks of the Mersey and the Clyde, the real winner was Trent. Mohamed Salah scored with nonchalant ease but Trent Alexander-Arnold set Liverpool on a path to victory they were expected to get. Perhaps he affected a swift transformation from scapegoat to top dog and certainly his celebration of a cathartic goal had an air of vindication.
Whether a brilliant free kick was an eloquent response to criticism or simply a demonstration of the gifts that make him a unique right-back, it brought him respite on an evening that ended not with another inquest, but a standing ovation.
For Liverpool, too, it was a restorative affair. A continental campaign that began with the nadir of their worst performance under Jurgen Klopp now looks on course to conclude somewhere in the knockout stages. Napoli’s win over Ajax helps position Liverpool to qualify, if not win Group A, and they can plan for the return trip to Ibrox next week in greater need of points in the Premier League than the Champions League.
On a night when Liverpool were comfortable and commanding, if not clinical, they took a two-goal lead for only the second time this season – the first brought a further seven goals against Bournemouth – but a relatively small scoreline needs to be placed in the context of Rangers’ limitations.
Ajax and Napoli both recorded bigger victories over Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side. Europa League finalists seem destined to beat an early exit from the Champions League; they are goalless and pointless so far and if a 5-4-1 system signalled an intention to keep a clean sheet, they were soon behind.
That Liverpool started at speed and scored first, two things they have done too rarely in a troubled couple of months, should offer encouragement. So could several performances, whether Thiago Alcantara’s display of passing or Luis Diaz’s energetic running, while Klopp’s rare decision to switch shape to 4-2-3-1, in itself an admission of problems, was justified by the prominence of a front four who kept Rangers pegged back.
And yet the opening goal came from a player whose job description as a defender is deceptive.
The Trent trade-off is that the cost of his defensive deficiencies is far outweighed by everything else he gives Liverpool. And if that has not always been the case this season, it was here, as it has been over every previous campaign and his Anfield career. Indeed, it was his third goal in 11 games, the sort of return some forwards may envy.
Some would seek to play themselves out of poor form with low-profile reliability but Alexander-Arnold is incapable of being anonymous; not for him the quiet dependability of many an unflashy full-back.
For the second time in four days, he was involved in the opening goal at Anfield. This time Liverpool scored it and he did, curling in a free kick with expert precision. Allan McGregor, who debuted for Rangers when Alexander-Arnold was three, was left clawing at thin air as the right-back’s shot nestled in the top corner. The set-piece was conceded by a former team-mate of sorts. Ben Davies never played at Anfield in his ill-fated Liverpool career. His first notable action on the ground he never really called home was to foul Darwin Nunez.
If Liverpool were dominant thereafter, the fragility of their confidence meant a second goal was necessary and Salah belatedly supplied it, lifting a penalty over McGregor, after a rampaging Diaz was brought down by Leon King.
The more sustained assault on the Rangers goal, however, had come from Nunez. Klopp trusted him to start, for only the second time since his sending off against Crystal Palace, amid a change of plan brought upon by Liverpool’s failings against Brighton.
A hideously out-of-form Fabinho was dropped amid a shift in system. The recalled striker could have scored after two minutes and might have had four goals by the break.
And yet he found his nemesis in the oldest man to play at Anfield since Elton John in June. The 40-year-old McGregor was outstanding. In between thwarting Salah, he won a personal duel with the sharp Nunez. The Uruguayan unleashed an early snap-shot that the goalkeeper parried, latched on to Jordan Henderson’s lob over the Rangers defence, controlled adeptly and arrowing a second shot towards goal as McGregor again displayed the reflexes of a younger man. When Salah released Nunez in the inside-right channel, just as when Diogo Jota sent him scurrying clear, McGregor came to Rangers’ rescue.
His opposite number had less to do, though Alisson marked his first game since his 30th birthday with a fine save from Antonio Colak while Kostas Tsimikas made an acrobatic goal-line clearance.
Yet while Rangers’ fans sang the national anthem, to the annoyance of their Liverpool counterparts, on the pitch they had only obdurate defending and fine goalkeeping to enjoy.
This was a historic first meeting of clubs with a claim to be the most successful ever north and south of the border respectively. It was a sign of the size of the occasion that the crowd included a particularly distinguished former Rangers striker, with Sir Alex Ferguson making a rare trip to Anfield, and their previous manager, in Steven Gerrard.
It is safe to assume the former Liverpool captain departed happier with the outcome than the ex-Manchester United manager.
