Happy returns for birthday boy Arne Slot. Liverpool breezed past AC Milan at the San Siro in their first taste of Champions League action this season.
Liverpool’s centre-halves showed the likes of Diogo Jota how to score, with both Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate heading past Mike Maignan before half-time, cancelling out Christian Pulisic’s ferocious early strike.
Jota endured another testing contest, having not looked near his clinical best in recent weeks. He was eclipsed by the performance of Cody Gakpo, whose dynamism was far too much for the Milan defence to contain.
Cody Gakpo's performance vs AC Milan
Gakpo’s starting to show that he’s best equipped to wreak destruction on Liverpool’s opponents when placed on the left. He was rather brilliant under the European lights on his first start of the season.
The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle handed him a whopping 9/10 match score, writing: ‘Looked threatening whenever he had the ball and was too strong and powerful for Milan at times with his running and dribbling. Had a few shots that worked Maignan in the first half and low cross almost brought a goal from Salah. Brilliant run set up Szoboszlai for the third.’
It was indeed the upswing in energy and enterprise that was the most attractive part of the Dutchman’s display. We’ve all seen flashes of brilliance over the past couple of years but he doesn’t mesh it all together with the consistency that is desired.
He claimed a wonderful assist for Dominik Szoboszlai’s second-half goal, carving the hosts open like a shark through a school of fish. As per Sofascore, Gakpo hit the target twice and made two key passes, also winning seven of 11 contested duels and completing four of his seven dribbles.
Slot revealed post-match that his countryman was supposed to start against Nottingham Forest last weekend but wasn’t quite fit enough, and Luis Diaz thus reprised his role.
Could have been the difference-maker, that. It’s great to see the Reds boasting such strength in depth though, with Gakpo’s excellent effort diverting eyes from the resurgent Mohamed Salah, who appears to have put his one-match blue patch behind him.
Mo Salah was quietly excellent
Salah was rubbish during Saturday’s Anfield loss against Forest, really, really, rubbish. But that’s okay, the Premier League great can be afforded an off day. After all, he had previously posted three goals and three assists across three matches to start Slot’s tenure off with a bang.
The £34m signing was far more like his imperious self on the continental stage, albeit finishing the match without a goal or an assist to his name – though he did almost everything that he could to achieve that.
Salah hit the woodwork twice – twice – while threatening with some sharp deliveries and a combativeness that isn’t always a part of the Egyptian’s repertoire. Pit his attempt against that of last weekend, and it’s pleasing to see normal service resumed.
Okay, he might not have rediscovered his shooting boots just yet, but the 32-year-old superstar did raise the bar across all the meaningful underlying metrics.
Minutes played
90′
89′
Goals
0
0
Assists
0
0
Shots (on target)
3 (2)
5 (2)
Hit woodwork
0x
2x
Touches
56
32
Accurate passes
28/40 (70%)
15/19 (79%)
Possession lost
20x
5x
Key passes
1
1
Dribbles (completed)
5 (1)
4 (3)
Tackles
0
2
Total duels (won)
8 (2)
7 (6)
Gakpo’s masterful attacking display took the limelight away from the club’s best forward, but this was a constructive performance for Salah, who has found his feet once again and will be raring to take on Bournemouth at the weekend.
Margins. Fine margins. On another day, with the slightest of tweaks to the aerodynamics, he might be returning to Liverpool with the match ball.
Liverpool man sold by Klopp for just £4.3m is currently outperforming Salah
Liverpool fans will be surprised to hear how well this dud is now doing.
ByKelan SarsonSep 16, 2024
