Liverpool fight back from two down to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield
Liverpool trailed 2-0 early but beat Villarreal 4-3 in the Champions League. Alexis Mac Allister scored twice and substitute Florian Wirtz added a fourth. The Reds have nine points.
Symbolic image · Photo: Arne Müseler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
Liverpool recovered from a nightmare start to beat Villarreal 4-3 in the Champions League on Tuesday. Georges Mikautadze punished a poor Virgil van Dijk header to put the Spanish side ahead after four minutes, and Sergi Cardona finished a swift counter to make it 2-0 in the 29th. Alexis Mac Allister headed in a Kostas Tsimikas corner in the 36th, and Ronald Araújo headed the equaliser from an 18-year-old Rio Ngumoha cross in first-half stoppage time.
Liverpool took control after the break. Mac Allister made it 3-2 in the 65th minute after more good work by Ngumoha, and Florian Wirtz, who replaced Araújo at half-time, drilled in a low shot from Cody Gakpo's pass three minutes later. Tani Oluwaseyi pulled one back in the 87th to set up a nervy finish. Liverpool have nine points from three wins in the league phase.
Manager Andoni Iraola said that at 2-0 down his side had "nothing to lose". He had rested Wirtz and Bradley Barcola because it would have been their fourth start in 10 days. Of Ngumoha he said: "He is only 18, still not the full package." Villarreal coach Iñigo Pérez said his side had not been close to being hammered.