Liverpool bounce back in style to see off Milan in Champions League opener

 

A stirring comeback against Milan: say what you like about Arne Slot, but at least he knows his history. Two minutes into this game, perhaps the first genuine inflection point of the new Liverpool era: defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, followed by an early goal for Christian Pulisic that put Milan 1-0 up. So, how are your nerves?

Pretty solid, as it turned out. Abetted by some shambolic Milan defending, Liverpool spent the next 88 minutes methodically taking the seven-time champions apart on their own turf: not always fluently, and not always clinically, but with an encouraging directness and above all an instinctive calm.

Liverpool were happy to have the ball. They were happy not to have the ball. They did not dwell on their missed chances but simply created more. And, of course, it helps when your opponents have the structural integrity of a puri, allowing Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk free set-piece headers to put Liverpool in front.

Dominik Szoboszlai completed the scoring in the second half, making good on Slot’s entreaties for him to contribute more goals from midfield. But the most noteworthy performances were from Cody Gakpo on the left wing and Ryan Gravenberch in midfield. Gakpo was a total menace: unpredictable in his movement, unstoppable on the ball, cutting Milan to pieces with his driving runs.

Gravenberch, meanwhile, was the nuclear core of Liverpool’s comeback: collecting the ball deep, winning it high, playing a couple of delightful early passes to shift the momentum away from the home side. And perhaps it is no coincidence that both are late Klopp-era signings who to date have felt a little like square pegs, squeezed into roles already largely defined by their predecessors (Roberto Firmino; Fabinho). Now, under their compatriot Slot, they have a blank canvas.

“This is a special place for Dutch people to play,” Slot said. “I was just standing next to Clarence Seedorf, and he was also talking about Ryan and Cody. To put in a performance like this is always nice, but at a venue like this is even nicer. I could pick out a few others as well.”

And even at the time Milan’s early goal felt like something of an anomaly, almost surreal in its ease and absence of intensity, as Álvaro Morata collected a goal-kick and turned it around the corner for Pulisic. And fair enough, at this point Pulisic still had plenty to do. But – as Liverpool will reflect when they debrief this goal – probably not enough. Kostas Tsimikas was nowhere, Konaté didn’t remotely get close enough and Pulisic was able simply to scamper towards goal and bury it low.

As a coach, there are vanishingly few buttons to push in situations like this. Change things after three minutes and it smells a lot like panic. All you can really do is make some encouraging movements with your hands and trust your players to make it work. And so, with “Nottingham Forest still in our heads”, as Slot would later admit, Liverpool began the task of relocating their poise.

Milan, for their part, are simply not yet good enough or disciplined enough to manage situations like this. “A team that doesn’t move as a team,” was the great Arrigo Sacchi’s damning recent verdict on a side that has only one win from its first four Serie A games. Once the initial wave of euphoria had subsided, Liverpool were simply able to settle, pick their passes, pick their moments.

Konaté atoned with the headed equaliser on 23 minutes, Mike Maignan coming for Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross but not getting close. In between times Mohamed Salah twice hit the bar and Maignan made smart saves from Gakpo, who was taking advantage of an early booking for Davide Calabria and turning the left wing into his personal command centre.

Here, on the open pastures of San Siro, the space that was so elusive against Nottingham Forest was now abundant. Van Dijk’s goal just before half-time was elementary both in concept and execution: a little preliminary grappling and then a sudden lurch in the opposite direction, meeting Tsimikas’s corner with a header from four yards.

The maddening part of all this was that Milan are really quite a nice side to watch in full flow: a flawed and dangerous team built largely from young ballers, grizzled old pros and players you vaguely remember playing for Chelsea. Morata, signed from Atlético Madrid in the summer, is a smarter and much tougher striker than many give him credit for. Ruben Loftus-Cheek at 28 is essentially the same player he was at 20. Fikayo Tomori was probably the pick of a ropey back line. Tammy Abraham made a late cameo.

But by then the game was gone. Szoboszlai made the game safe with a neat finish after a breathless dash from Gakpo on the counter, and as the Milan players faced the ultras at full-time they were met with a wall of whistles and chants of “tirate fuori i coglioni” – roughly, “show us some balls”. But ultimately, it wasn’t anatomy Milan were lacking here. It was aptitude.