Key events
84 mins: Mac Allister goes down in the penalty area, but only Liverpool’s fans think it should be a penalty.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Atletico Madrid (Llorente, 81 mins)
Llorente strikes again! Atletico attack down the left, seem to lose it, never quite do so, Simeone’s shot from the left-hand corner of the penalty area deflects off Konate’s back and drops to Llorente, and he hammers a volley past Alisson from 20 yards!
79 mins: The last 10 minutes or so have been played to a soundtrack of gently concerned background grumblement.
76 mins: Atletico win a corner, and before they take it Marc Pubill comes on for Gonzalez.
75 mins: Rio Ngumoha comes on for Wirtz, who has played very well and hinted at a potentially very exciting partnership with Isak.
73 mins: Llorente picks up the ball on the right, runs diagonally across the penalty area and finally has a shot, which surely deflects off Bradley. A goal kick is given, which Atletico are not pleased about, and one of their coaches is booked for being excessively miffed.
72 mins: Liverpool nearly score on the break again! Salah is played through on the right, just about beats the defender for pace, and from the byline lifts the ball to the far post, where Ekitike can’t quite reach it, it drops to Wirtz and he can’t work a shooting chance.
70 mins: Bradley grabs Javier Galan’s right arm, pulls him to the ground and wins himself a yellow card.
67 mins: Surely someone is about to score? Atletico overcommit again, Szoboszlai crosses from the right to Wirtz, who touches to Ekitike, who lifts it overt the bar.
65 mins: … And they almost pay the price! Liverpool break, Wirtz and Szoboszlai get in each other’s way as the ball breaks into the Atletico box and then it breaks right to Salah, who smashes it into the inside of the post!
64 mins: Now It’s Atletico exerting pressure, pushing numbers forward in search of an equaliser.
61 mins: And now a couple of changes for Atletico: Alexander Sorloth and Nahuel Molina come on, replacing Griezmann and Gallagher.
60 mins: An hour played, and Atletico haven’t been out of their half for a while.
59 mins: Liverpool make a triple change: Isak, Frimpong and Gakpo go off, Ekitike, Bradley and Mac Allister come on.
57 mins: The corner comes to nothing, but Liverpool keep attacking for a couple of minutes, everyone by now knowing that the move represents Isak’s final chance of a debut goal. The ball nearly drops for him a couple of times, but never actually does so.
55 mins: Liverpool win a corner, and prepare several substitutions. They’ll take the corner first.
54 mins: Liverpool are pushing for a third here. Salah crosses from the right into a defender’s arm, very similar to the moment that presented Liverpool with their matchwinning penalty at Burnley, but this time the arm wasn’t unnaturally extended, and play continues.
53 mins: And that’s Raspadori’s final involvement in the game, as he makes way for Koke.
52 mins: Good work from Atletico on their right and eventually they work it to Raspadori, who gets enough space to shoot and doesn’t hesitate. But at that point he’s at an unpromisingly acute angle, and Alisson saves.
50 mins: After lengthy build-up on the left Robertson crosses, and the referee sees/imagines a very gentle push from Isak on a defender. On the touchline, Koke is preparing to come on for Atletico.
46 mins: No halftimely changes, so Isak plays on, for now. I’ve had a few emails about the Atletico goal, and whether it should have been disallowed for offside against Antoine Griezmann, whose run into the area had carried him beyond the defence to a position just in front of Alisson. “I know it’s constantly changing, but from the looks of it Griezman was standing straight in front of Alisson and obscuring his line of vision from an offside position when that goal went in,” writes Samuel Dodson (and 10,482 others). “Trust the officials made the right call but has something changed with the rules around interfering with play?” No rule changes, I can’t imagine VAR didn’t consider the possibility (OK, I can imagine, but I’ll make a charitable assumption), but Marco Di Bello must have decided that Alisson had sight of the ball when the shot was taken.
46 mins: Peeeeep! And they’re off!
The players are back out, and Atleti are preparing for kick-off.
Two minutes away from being a brilliantly encouraging half for Liverpool, but even so a good one. Partly because Mo Salah has looked like Mo Salah, for the first time in the three Liverpool games I’ve seen this season, and partly because Isak, who grew into the half from a slow start, has obviously none of his silkiness on his journey from Newcastle. But the game remains very much unwon, which for the neutrals among us is probably ideal. “Atléti looked so flat before pulling one back,” says Kari Tulinius. “Now they look like they have the fire inside them. Simeone has a reputation for stirring half-time talks, but he won’t need to do much to have them roar out of the traps at the restart.”
Half time: Liverpool 2-1 Atlético de Madrid
45+5 mins: The free-kick is lifted into the penalty area, bounces out of play and that’s it for a very entertaining opening half.
45+5 mins: Lenglet brings down Gravenberch on halfway and is booked.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Atletico Madrid (Llorente, 45+3 mins)
Game on! A nice move from the away side, with Giacomo Raspadori timing his run from deep perfectly and passing infield to Llorente, who takes an imperfect touch that works out nicely as he stretches and toe-pokes through Konate’s legs and inside the far post.
45+1 mins: Another Atletico corner starts stoppage time, of which there’ll be about four minutes.
43 mins: Nearly a wonderful third! Wirtz to Isak, Isak’s lovely pass back to Wirtz, he touches wide of the advancing Oblak but just behind the run of Frimpong, who therefore can’t turn it into an empty net. At the pace Frimpong runs, there’s really not a lot of margin for error.
41 mins: Now Robertson passes from the left in to Isak, who spins, makes space, and shoots. Things are starting to happen for him, but all that happens this time is an easy save by Oblak.
40 mins: Save! A big loopy ball forward drops just over the defender’s head and right onto Salah’s boot, but he volleys at Oblak.
39 mins: Wirtz passes to Isak on the edge of the area. It’s not a great pass, but Isak’s first touch is great, he spins, and sends a shot just wide.
38 mins: A lovely first-time touch from Salah to kill the pace of a ball fizzed into him and lay it into Wirtz’s path. As Tim Stappard writes, “looks like Salah has decided to earn his wages for once”.
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