Andoni Iraola made a masterstroke decision as Liverpool completed a remarkable turnaround from 2-0 down to beat Villarreal at Anfield in the Champions League
Andoni Iraola showed his former apprentice who is boss as Liverpool completed a remarkable turnaround from 2-0 down to win 4-3 against Villarreal at Anfield in the Champions League.
Liverpool were outplayed and outworked in the opening half an hour as the Spanish visitors took a deserved lead following some horrific defending, especially from Virgil van Dijk. But a brace from Alexis Mac Allister and strikes from Ronald Araujo and a rare finish from Florian Wirtz turned the game around for the Reds.
After a hard-fought win against Brentford on Saturday and 3rd place Brighton to head to on Sunday, Iraola took the chance to rotate his side, once again backing youth up front with Rio Ngumoha starting on the right, Lewis Koumas through the middle, and Trey Nyoni in the middle of midfield.
Make sure you never miss the most fun content in sport by making the Daily Star one of your Google preferred sources.
Bradley Barcola, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz were all rested on the bench with an embarrassment of riches on offer to the Basque boss. In comparison, Villarreal’s starting 11 cost less than Wirtz, and if you throw in the subs then you could buy the entire Spanish side’s 18 for the price of Alexander Isak.
Despite the changes, Iraola still stuck with his preferred centre-back pairing of Jeremy Jacquet and Van Dijk, but the latter’s complacency gifted the visitors the lead when he attempted to coolly head the ball back to Alisson, instead the Dutchman tried to be too cool and headed the ball up in the air for Georges Mikautadze to latch onto and slot past the Brazilian after just four minutes.
It was the perfect start for Inigo Perez’s side. The former midfielder, 38, left Rayo Vallecano in the summer after guiding them to the Conference League final, where they were beaten by Crystal Palace.
Perez is a close friend of Iraola, and the Liverpool boss attempted to bring him to Bournemouth as part of his coaching staff after he was on Iraola’s coaching staff at Rayo, but the move was blocked by post-Brexit rules. Instead, the former Athletic Club man has carved out his own managerial career away from the mentoring of Iraola.
Villarreal matched Liverpool for shape and looked a real threat on the counter as they played their way out through the Reds’ midfield with ease.
Liverpool’s lazy play out of possession saw them deservedly go 2-0 down on the half hour mark when Sergi Cardona sent Alisson the wrong way to slot into the bottom corner one-on-one.
Villarreal bounced their way past the three Liverpool midfielders with one pass before finding Nathan Saliba in the pocket in front of the defence. Van Dijk was again too slow to close down the midfielder, who rolled the ball through the gap between the two centre-backs under no pressure.
The hosts didn’t look like scoring before the break but a brilliantly flicked header by Alexis Mac Allister guided Kostas Tsimikas’ corner inside the far post to half the deficit and bring life to Anfield. Despite his 5ft 9 frame, the Argentine is one of the Reds’ best targets from set pieces thanks to his excellent movement and anticipation, allowing him to ghost in unmarked.
And remarkably, Araujo somehow sent Liverpool into the break level. Criminal defending from Cardona completely cancelled out his goal as he attempted to leave Ngumoha’s cross to bounce out for a goal kick, only for Araujo to steam in behind him and fire home from a yard out with the final kick of the half.
For 35 minutes it was a horror show by the Reds, but there’s a reason why Villarreal have only won two of nine La Liga matches, and it showed in their complete lack of concentration and awareness in defence.
It appeared that Araujo might have hurt himself turning in the equaliser as he was replaced at half-time for Wirtz, seeing Gravenberch drop into right-back.
Liverpool emerged from the break a much better outfit as they dominated proceedings and limited Villarreal to no shots inside the opening 15 minutes of the half.
And they got their reward in the 65th minute when Ngumoha danced into the penalty area and squared the ball across the face of goal for Mac Allister to smash in from six yards, with the help of the crossbar.
Just three minutes later, Wirtz scored his first Liverpool goal since April as he drilled the ball into the far bottom corner from 12 yards with Villarreal on the ropes.
How a game can change. Liverpool were all at sea, but Ngumoha’s skill and trickery helped turn the game. If the 18-year-old can consistently produce a final product like today, he will soon become impossible to bench.
More lax defending from Liverpool made the final few minutes a nervey occasion after Tani Oluwaseyi knocked the ball past Alisson unmarked at the back post.