Liverpool celebrate their return to the Champions League with a comeback at San Siro. Slot’s men responded to a great start by the Rossoneri and earned a deserved 3-1 victory with a performance of enormous quality and intensity, against an opponent that has faded with the passage of time.
The best of Milan’s night only took place during the first quarter of an hour of the match. San Siro dreamed of an unforgettable night in the third minute, when Pulisic received a perfect vertical pass from Morata, entered the area and struck Alisson with a cross shot. While the Rossoneri celebrated, Maignan lay down on the ground causing concern for his physical condition. A bad sign that had consequences later and Liverpool, after a very difficult start, began to recover with a warning from Salah. The Egyptian received in the area and with a sudden right-footed shot hit the crossbar, minutes before the 1-1 scoreline.
In the 23rd minute, Konaté capitalised on a poor clearance by Maignan following a free kick by Alexander-Arnold to head home the equaliser, and the Reds continued to push relentlessly. Diogo Jota wasted a pass in the area from Gakpo, who shortly afterwards sent another shot off the bar from Salah. In the 41st minute, the deserved 1-2 came, in a very similar way to the first: from a corner taken by Tsimikas, Van Dijk broke free in the six-yard box and beat Maignan again. The French goalkeeper’s dark night ended in the 51st minute, when he had to leave the field due to his physical problems and was replaced by Lorenzo Torriani, a 19-year-old ‘bambino’.
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The second half began with a very similar dynamic and in the 67th minute the 1-3 came, which seemed inevitable: a great Gakpo got rid of Pavlovic and completed a combination with Szoboszlai, who pushed the ball between the posts. Milan had a timid attempt at a reaction in the last 20 minutes, with initiatives from Theo, Leao (who hit the post), Morata and the substitute Abraham, but it did little to scare a clearly superior Liverpool. And San Siro closed the night chanting against its players.
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Changes
Lorenzo Torriani (50′, Mike Maignan), Luis Diaz (67′, Cody Steel), Darwin Nunez (67′, Diogo Jota), Tammy Abraham (68′, Ruben Loftus-Cheek), Emerson Royal (69′, Davide Calabria), Joe Gomez (78′, Trent Alexander-Arnold), Noah Okafor (83′, Alvaro Morata), Matthew Cage (83′, Fikayo Tomori), Frederick Church (92′, Mohamed Salah), Wataru Endo (92′, Alexis Mac Allister)
Goals
1-0, 2′: Christian Pulisic1-1, 22′: Ibrahim Konata1-2, 40′: Virgil Van Dijk1-3, 66′: Dominik Szoboszlai
Cards
Referee: Espen Eskås
Arbitro VAR: Bastian Dankert, Christian Dingert
David Calabria (21′,Yellow), Youssouf Fofana (30′,Yellow), Alexis Mac Allister (52′,Yellow), Rodrigues Fonseca (59′,Yellow), Ibrahim Konata (79′,Yellow)
