Liverpool’s title defence is up and running, just, after Bournemouth were beaten on an emotional, dramatic and controversial night at Anfield.
While Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who both died in a car crash in July, were remembered with chants, banners and a beautifully observed minute’s silence, the opening game of the 2025-26 Premier League season had to be paused during the first half after the visitors’ forward Antoine Semenyo informed the referee, Anthony Taylor, he had been subjected to racist abuse from a fan in the stands.
Taylor spoke with the fourth official and then called the Liverpool head coach Arne Slot and his Bournemouth counterpart Andoni Iraola across to explain what had happened. Play eventually resumed and an anti-discrimination message was read out to the crowd once the half-time whistle had blown.
Taylor speaks to the two managers on the touchline (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
That incident rather overshadowed an entertaining and hugely competitive match.
Hugo Ekitike’s well-taken goal established a first-half Liverpool lead that was doubled by Cody Gakpo shortly after the break. But Semenyo, who had caused the champions problems all night, pulled one back just after the hour and then dribbled from one box to the other against back-tracking defenders to equalise 14 minutes from time.
Both sides had opportunities to win from there, but it was Liverpool substitute Federico Chiesa, with his second touch of the season, who took his opportunity, a fine finish flying into the far corner to restore the home team’s lead on 88 minutes. Mohamed Salah added an excellent fourth in stoppage time.
Andy Jones dissects all the main talking points as the season kicked off at Anfield.
How did Ekitike and the new signings fare?
Who needs Alexander Isak? Summer signing Ekitike has already made the No 9 position at Liverpool his own.
After scoring after four minutes in last Sunday’s Community Shield, the 23-year-old marked his Premier League debut with another goal, sliding the ball past a helpless Djordje Petrovic after playing a fortunate one-two off Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi.
It was exactly what Ekitike deserved as he put in a performance which demonstrated all the attributes Liverpool felt he would bring when they signed him from Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial £69million ($93.5m at the current rate) last month.
Ekitike celebrates his first Premier League goal (Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
From the opening minutes, he showed his technical quality by dropping deep and knitting Liverpool’s attacks together with crisp passing and delicate flicks. He would go on to assist Gakpo for the second goal after the break with some neat link-up play.
Just as encouragingly, he relished the physical battle against fellow Frenchman Bafode Diakite and was a constant threat with the ball at his feet and with his movement in behind and around the box. He could have added more goals to his tally, too, but his heading radar was askew.
Liverpool do still need to make attacking additions before the window closes in a couple of weeks to increase their depth, but Ekitike hitting the ground running is exactly what they needed.
Four of Liverpool’s summer signings made their Premier League bows here as midfielder Florian Wirtz and full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, formerly of Bournemouth, were all in Slot’s team from the opening kick-off. Excluding the Premier League’s inaugural 1992-93 season, it was the first time the reigning champions had named as many as four debutants in their opening-game starting line-up.
Club-record signing Wirtz also showed moments of quality as he tried to open up the Bournemouth defence. He was constantly finding space and has been given the freedom in the No 10 position to influence the game. This was not the German at his very best, and it looks like he might take a bit of time to adapt to the pace of the Premier League, but he grew into the contest as it went on and the signs continue to be encouraging.
Wirtz offered flashes of quality on league debut (Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Iraola’s side were difficult opponents, and their counter-attacking threat limited the involvement both full-backs could have in attack. Kerkez was nearly caught out by a cross early on when Semenyo hit a shot over the crossbar, but Liverpool looked more like themselves as a defensive unit when the two new signings were on the pitch.
Both had been taken off by the time Bournemouth pulled a goal back through Semenyo, and the loss of their pace in the full-back positions was evident.
Might Bournemouth have been reduced to 10 early on?
If there was any doubt the Premier League was back, a dubious handball decision and the resultant VAR controversy only 13 minutes into the first game of the season confirmed it.
Senesi may have been on the halfway line but he was effectively Bournemouth’s last man as Salah hooked a ball on for Ekitike to chase. The Argentine defender intercepted the pass by taking it on his left thigh, only for the ball to bounce up and threaten to loop away and into the path of the onrushing striker, who would have been alone in the visitors’ half.
Perhaps panicked, Senesi swiped his arm at the loose ball which, as a result, squirmed away from Ekitike. Referee Taylor apparently did not see the incident and actually allowed play to continue, much to the disbelief of Ekitike, who would have found himself with a run on goal, albeit from a long way out.
VAR says no, but @Carra23 was convinced that was handball 🧐 pic.twitter.com/kS8hOEwn7s
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 15, 2025
Yet, on closer inspection, the handball looked far from accidental. Rather than the ball ricocheting directly from his thigh onto Senesi’s arm, he appeared to reach out his hand and brush it away in a second motion, altering its flight and taking it away from Ekitike.
As Slot and his coaching staff watched replays on their monitors in the home dugout, their frustration increased.
Yet, for all that Taylor had initially played on, the VAR did check the incident but deemed it “not to be a clear handball offence, nor a denial of a goalscoring opportunity due to the distance from the goal”.
#LIVBOU – 13’
The referee’s call of no red card to Senesi was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action deemed not to be a clear handball offence nor denial of a goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO), due to the distance from goal.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) August 15, 2025
As it was, play resumed with a Bournemouth free kick awarded for handball against Cody Gakpo in the immediate aftermath of the incident, with Senesi duly clearing upfield.
In that context, there was a certain irony that, later in the first half, a deflection off the same player sent Ekitike through on goal to open his Premier League goal account.
Why are Liverpool so fragile defensively?
The champions looked to be cruising to a relatively comfortable home victory as they opened up that two-goal lead in the early stages of the second half. Yet, as has been the problem throughout pre-season, they continue to look vulnerable defensively and when Semenyo pulled one back, the Anfield crowd, and Liverpool’s players, became nervous.
Slot has made no secret of the fact that improvements need to be made defensively. His side only kept one clean sheet in their six pre-season matches – during a behind-closed-doors friendly against Championship side Stoke City – and their defensive frailties were exposed by Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.
Bournemouth have attacking players who can hurt you but, while Liverpool had struggled for rhythm through periods of the first half tonight, they had limited them to only a handful of chances.
But, at 2-0 up, Slot’s decision to take both starting full-backs off on the hour, replacing them with Andy Robertson and Wataru Endo, appeared to give the visitors renewed belief.
As was the case against Palace at Wembley, both Bournemouth’s goals came from Liverpool giving the ball away.
A dejected Virgil van Dijk (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
For the first, Dominik Szoboszlai lost possession and immediately Bournemouth were in behind as David Brooks slid a ball across for Semenyo to finish from close range.
Then, as Liverpool went forward looking for a third to restore their two-goal advantage, a poor Salah pass on the edge of the Bournemouth box suddenly led to a four-on-two counter-attack. As Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate back-pedalled, waiting for support to come, Semenyo carried the ball on and on, got to the edge of the Liverpool area, cut inside and fired a shot past Alisson.
New centre-back signing Giovanni Leoni watched on from the stands, but rather than individual defensive errors being Liverpool’s downfall, the structure remains an issue that needs fixing quickly.
Enter Chiesa…
Liverpool needed a hero.
Usually, that’s Salah. They hope that in the years to come it will be Ekitike or Wirtz. Perhaps Alexander Isak. Tonight, it was none of them.
Step forward, Federico Chiesa.
The expectation was that the Italian would no longer be a Liverpool player by the time this Premier League season got underway, given his lack of involvement last season following his late August arrival from Juventus. He made 14 appearances across all competitions and managed 466 minutes of game time.
Yet after Liverpool had lost their two-goal lead tonight and with the minutes ticking down, Slot was looking for a match-winner.
Chiesa celebrates his goal (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Chiesa had been an unused substitute in the Community Shield, ignored by the manager when he might have freshened up Liverpool’s attack in a game that ended 2-2 before Palace won on penalties. It seemed the writing was on the wall.
But in Slot’s hour of need, Chiesa was summoned on 82 minutes and when the opportunity came, and the ball bounced up perfectly, he hammered a shot into the corner to send Anfield wild. Salah would go on to add a fourth deep into added time, but it was Cheisa who had deflated the visitors.
The transfer window remains open until September 1, and Chiesa may not be a Liverpool player on September 2 — but in an instant, with the champions’ attacking depth still light, he may have changed the direction of his career on Merseyside.
How did Anfield pay tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva?
It is a little over six weeks since the tragic passing of Jota and his brother, also a footballer, in a car crash in Spain.
Liverpool have been a club in mourning ever since, and this opening fixture of the Premier League season at Anfield was always going to be an emotionally charged night.
Each tribute that has been paid to them, from those laid outside Anfield in the days following their deaths to the emotional scenes between players and fans in that first pre-season friendly at Preston North End and in each fixture since, has been moving. But this was a night when Anfield united in memory of the Portugal international and his sibling.
Liverpool fans admire a mural picturing Jota outside Anfield (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Jota’s photo was on the front of the matchday programme, the contents of which included tributes from Slot and Van Dijk, Liverpool’s captain. Before kick-off, two new fans’ flags dedicated to Jota were waved on the Kop, one with ‘Our lad from Portugal’ on and the other ‘His name is Diogo’ — both are lyrics from his song. The home supporters, many wearing scarves referencing their late No 20, belted out that anthem as the teams walked onto the field.
Then, as You’ll Never Walk Alone was sung, two more banners were unfurled at the front of the Kop, one carrying a message to Jota’s family: ‘Rute, Dinis, Duarte, Mafalda — Anfield will always be your home. You’ll Never Walk Alone.’
The Kop pays its pre-match tribute (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
With Jota’s family and friends in attendance, two mosaics were held up during the pre-game minute’s silence: ‘DJ20’ on the Kop and ‘AS30’, a reference to Andre Silva’s shirt number at Portuguese second-division club Penafiel, in the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand. The silence was observed impeccably. There will be a similar moment of reflection across the opening weekend’s other nine Premier League fixtures.
His chant went up again after 20 minutes in recognition of the 28-year-old’s now-retired Liverpool squad number. The evening ended with Salah, in tears as he stood alone in front of the Kop, as the home support bellowed his former team-mate’s name.
Jota was an incredible footballer, but what has become clear since his death is that those who knew him considered him an even better human-being. He touched so many people’s lives. This was the perfect way to honour him.
What did Slot say?
We will bring you the Liverpool manager’s thoughts once he has concluded his post-match media conference.
What next for Liverpool?
Monday, August 25: Newcastle (Away), Premier League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
(Top photo: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
