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Liverpool kicked off their 50th season of European football hosting Atlético Madrid at Anfield.
Arne Slot handed Alexander Isak his debut, replacing Hugo Ekitiké in attack, while there were also changes at full-back, with Jeremie Frimpong and Andy Robertson coming in for Alexis Mac Allister and Milos Kerkez, as Dominik Szoboszlai moved back into midfield.
Atleti have undergone a rebuild this summer themselves. Diego Simeone made three changes to the team that got their first win of the season on Saturday, beating Villarreal 2-0. Matteo Ruggeri, Koke and Julian Alvarez made way for Javi Galan, Conor Gallagher and Giacomo Raspadori.
Although they ostensibly lined up in a 4-4-2, when defending Atleti would drop back into a 5-4-1 shape. Guiliano Simeone would drop back into defence on the right, and Raspadori would then move back to fill the gap he left on the right of midfield, leaving Antoine Griezmann alone in attack.
This meant Liverpool’s match against Burnley on Sunday had made for excellent practice, and it didn’t take nearly as long for the Reds to break them down.
Gallagher paid particular attention to Florian Wirtz, getting pulled around as the German drifted, however, whereas Burnley had kept very tight in midfield, Pablo Barrios did little to close the gap that opened up between him and his partner. Mohamed Salah and Wirtz exchanged passes, before slipping the ball into Ryan Gravenberch, who had snuck forward into this gap. Clément Lenglet stepped up to close him down, giving away a free-kick on the edge of his area. Salah shot it low, but it was Robertson who converted the goal with a, er, deft backheel.
Two minutes later, they doubled their lead. Liverpool played down the right, and Atleti prepared for a cross. This meant that while Galan moved wide to meet Salah, the rest of the defenders and the far side midfielders stayed central, and so Gallagher dropped in to fill this gap between them, leaving Gravenberch in space. Frimpong’s overlapping run drew away Nico Gonzalez, allowing Salah to cut inside and give the ball to Gravenberch. Lenglet stepped up to meet Gravenberch again, but the Dutchman slipped the ball in behind, and Salah was the quickest to it, holding off multiple defenders and taking a touch to open up his hips before finishing past Jan Oblak.
Before the match could even settle into any pattern, Liverpool had already built up what should have been a comfortable lead.
They had found it easier to play through the middle than they had against Burnley. Whereas against the Clarets they just had Gravenberch at the base of the midfield, here they often had two men in this area. The obvious pairing was Gravenberch and Szoboszlai, but Wirtz dropping back was an alternative, while Ibrahima Konaté would push forward into midfield as well. Whichever way they did it, this would see Liverpool outnumber Griezmann to play around him, and so one of the Atleti midfielders would often be pulled forward to cover, leaving space behind them to exploit.
Nevertheless, the early lead meant breaking down a low block became less of an issue for Liverpool: if Atlético wanted to get something from the game, they would now have to come out of their shell.
They initially continued dropping back into their 5-4-1 shape, but this lessened as the half wore on, as they preferred to keep men forward in positions to press, more frequently forming a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2.
Going man-to-man to cut off the short options, Atleti were able to force Liverpool into some errors, but pushing their midfielders forward like meant leaving space behind them for Liverpool to exploit.
Gravenberch’s ability to turn out also made life difficult for Atlético, as he would simply evade their pressure and push forward, leaving them scrambling.
Atleti took risks in possession too, trying to play out from the back. Liverpool’s press caught them out several times, seeing them give the ball away in dangerous areas, however they also had some success.
Liverpool would mainly set up in a 4-3-1-2 shape to press, with Cody Gakpo dropping back into midfield on the left, while Salah would remain forward on the right, in position to press Lenglet. As a result, if Atleti could evade the immediate Liverpool pressure, Galan was free to receive the ball on the left.
As the half went on though, Atleti focussed their attacks more and more on the right, pushing Marcos Llorente forward with Simeone and Raspadori.
It was through this that they pulled a goal back just before half-time. Barrios received the ball near the touchline with space to pick out a pass, and with Liverpool’s defensive line high, Raspadori made a run in behind. Robertson had been drawn out to confront Simeone, but rather than passing him on to Gakpo, he stayed with him, while Szoboszlai didn’t track Raspadori’s run, so when Barrios knocked the ball in behind, Atlético had four men running at three defenders.
Van Dijk initially tried to stay with Llorente, but eventually had to step across to meet Raspadori, so the Italian passed inside to the free man, and he toe-poked the ball into the net. The goal should really have been ruled out for offside, as Griezmann was clearly blocking Alisson Becker’s view, but ultimately some sloppy defending by Liverpool and a lack of effort to get back and make up for it had handed Atlético a way back into the game.
In the second half Liverpool were happier to simply hold onto the ball, making Atlético chase them. Forcing Atleti to step up if they were to get the ball back again opened up space behind the midfield for Liverpool to exploit, with Wirtz finding pockets of space, and Isak also dropping off the frontline.
Liverpool also began to sit back more, especially after a triple substitution on 58 minutes. Conor Bradley and Ekitiké replacing Frimpong and Isak were like-for-like changes, but Gakpo was replaced by Mac Allister, seeing Liverpool switch to a 4-3-3 with Wirtz shifted out wide. Sitting back forced Atleti to play through them, which opened up space for Liverpool on the counter.
A problem with this approach was that Liverpool would often still keep Salah high on the right though, meaning Bradley was left outnumbered behind him. Several times Atlético would draw him out while a teammate made a run behind him.
It was through this that Atlético found an equaliser. Pressure saw them win a throw-in high up the pitch, and from there Galan would flick the ball in behind Bradley for Koke making a run. Bradley recovered, but Koke managed to squeeze the ball through. Liverpool were in a good position to defend though, with Barrios’ shot blocked by Konaté, however the ball fell to Llorente, and his volley was deflected in off of Mac Allister. Fortune had once again smiled on Atlético, but if Liverpool had done more to smother the attack earlier in the move, they could have saved themselves the headache.
Back on level terms, Atlético sat back to defend their point. This allowed them to crowd their area and deny Liverpool space there, but playing so close to their goal meant that when the ball went out of play, it was often for a corner.
Prior to Atlético’s equaliser, Liverpool had had just two corners. After it, they had four, before finally scoring with their fifth. There was little particularly complicated about the set-piece: most of Liverpool’s runners went towards the near post, helping to clear the space around Van Dijk, and he simply beat Robin Le Normand to head home the cross.
Simeone wasted most of what little time Atlético had left arguing with the crowd, and so Liverpool easily held out to claim victory.
Liverpool once again emerged victorious thanks to a last minute goal, getting their Champions League campaign off to a good start, however throwing away yet another two goal lead shows there is still plenty to work on.
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