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Wonderful chaos: Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds United manager, is known for the fact that his teams tirelessly run with the ball and especially against it, just like Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp’s teams, by the way. The meeting of the presses, a kind of “press conference”, offered viewers an exciting first half. Both teams began running over and over again, often fighting with more forwards in all sixteen opponents for the ball than the opponent could muster defenders. Just a wonderful disaster.
Outcome: Seven goals were scored in the game at the start of the new Premier League season, reigning champion Liverpool won 4: 3 (3: 2) against newly promoted Leeds. That this is a special result is demonstrated by Liverpool’s last season: until matchday 26, Liverpool had only conceded 15 goals. A replay should be tough given this first day of play.
First half: The game went back and forth like a pendulum in the first half. Mohamed Salah went ahead with a penalty on hand (minute 4), Jack Harrison equalized from the edge of the area with a shot to the near corner (12th). Virgil van Dijk led Liverpool back to the lead (20th), Patrick Bamford took advantage of a Virgil error to equalize (30th), before Salah scored a hat trick in the short corner from the right edge of the area (33 °).
Debut dance: They were the first division goals conceded for young Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier, considered one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. The 20-year-old saved his team from a major deficit in the first half when he led a failed rescue act by colleague Pascal Struijk over the bar. Besides Meslier, other players made their Premier League debuts, including Mateusz Klich, who played in the second division for 1. FC Kaiserslautern between 2015 and 2016. But more on that in a bit.
Second half: Both Klopp and Bielsa wouldn’t be as good coaches if they couldn’t at least temporarily reduce such defensive susceptibility as in the first half. Although both teams were a bit more confident on defense, they remained dangerous on offense. And Leeds drew again: This Mateusz Klich, who didn’t turn out to be a good enough talent at VfL Wolfsburg, scored 3: 3 against the English champions (66th). Only another penalty from Salah destroyed the outsider’s hopes of surprise (88th).
Poker face: After a good hour, strange things started to happen. Harrison had started a deep run from the center line that is so typical of Bielsa’s game. Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson edged out Harrison but was outdone by Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Liverpool defender was so fast that he headed the ball that bounced off his own goal. Referee Michael Oliver released the 21-year-old with his offside whistle, who must have expected it. There is no other explanation for his cold gaze between the own goal and the whistle.
Additions cause penalties: Previous transfers made it clear that Leeds is not a normal climber. With Rodrigo from Valencia and the player of the German team Robin Koch from Freiburg, the club brought two reinforcements. His debuts were quite unfortunate: after just three minutes, Koch caused a penalty; Just 20 minutes after his entry, a foul in Rodrigo’s own area resulted in a second penalty that decided the game. Above all, Koch’s good approaches to improving the game should reassure club management about the failed debut given the still young season.
The prospect: It won’t necessarily be easier for Liverpool in the next two weeks. With Chelsea and Arsenal, two teams await who would like to play for the championship. So Liverpool’s defense must be more secure. For Leeds, the next game against Fulham will again try to show that they are not a team that plays against relegation.
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