Liverpool kickstarted their Champions League campaign with a win over Ajax.
Mohamed Salah ended his goal drought by opening the scoring in the 17th minute when he fired home after a perfectly-timed pass from Diogo Jota.
But the visitors struck back barely 10 minutes later as Mohammed Kudus was allowed to drill a powerful effort using the underside of The Kop’s crossbar.
At the end of normal time, Joel Matip ensured that Jurgen Klopp’s side took maximum points as the defender rose to meet Kostas Tsimikas’ corner.
Here were the key talking points from Anfield:
Revived, not reinvented, Reds hit back
Jurgen Klopp called for Liverpool to ‘reinvent’ themselves in the wake of an abject opening Champions League group defeat at Napoli six days prior.
A 4-1 hammering on the Sicilian coast only served to heighten accusations that last season’s finalists were in the grip of an unexpectedly sharp decline.
Yet it was revival, not revolution, which placed those premature denouements into perspective and led to their first European victory of the new campaign.
On something of an unusual evening, the Reds successfully rolled back the months to when they had strode all the way into the continental showpiece.
Boosted by the returns of Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota, Klopp’s side were able to control the game more easily and the statistics alone bear that out.
A combined 24 shots, 10 of them on target, to their visitors’ meagre tally of three underlined the spells of dominance which Liverpool enjoyed throughout.
They still had to suffer against an Ajax team which routinely exploited the spaces left by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kostas Tsimikas at full-back.
But as the old saying goes, Rome was not built in a day and this win may come to be viewed as a turning point in the context of Liverpool’s season.
‘Another wasted corner…’
Once upon a time, Liverpool scoring from corners appeared inconceivable.
So endemic was their set-piece routine that one fanzine famously took its name from its wastefulness, but it appears those days are finally at an end.
Their deliveries against Ajax hit double figures and with it, came a new wave of attacking possibilities encapsulated by Joel Matip’s match-winning header.
Matip’s first Champions League goal in nine years could easily have belonged to his defensive partner as Virgil van Dijk proved equally adept at set pieces.
The Holland international powered several attempts towards goal in the first half alone, only to be met by compatriot Remko Pasveer’s sharp reflexes.
Utilising the physical presence of modern Liverpool defenders is hardly uncommon given that it became something of a hallmark for Sami Hyypia.
But the frequency with which corners are now meeting their intended targets this season offers another weapon to Klopp’s already well-stocked artillery.
Anfield does its solemn duty
Events of the past week threatened to render this game a potential sideshow.
Queen Elizabeth II’s death saw English football postponed last weekend, with the ongoing commemorations also putting paid to Liverpool’s trip to Chelsea.
As such, Anfield carried an unfamiliar air; the famous old stadium did not crackle in the way it often does when the Champions League rolls into town.
The competition’s anthem had been shelved as a mark of respect while You’ll Never Walk Alone’s customary airling was faded out after its opening bars.
Fears that Liverpool fans would not treat a pre-match period of silence with the respect which it deserved, however, proved to be largely unfounded.
A small handful of dissenting voices who attempted to pierce the moment of reflection were swiftly brought in line by others in the 54,000-strong crowd.
Imperfect thought it may have been, it would be a stretch for anyone to claim the Anfield faithful as a whole did not carry out its pre-match solemn duty.