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Mohamed Salah eclipsed Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s top scorer in the Champions League with his record double goal in a 1-1 draw against Midtjylland.
The Egyptian international scored after just 55 seconds as his 22nd goal in the competition also turned out to be the club’s fastest.
FULL MATCH DETAILS
However, the 62nd minute penalty awarded by Alexander Scholz’s VAR negated Jurgen Klopp’s team’s victory and their best comeback from the group stage.
The game was not the best announcement for video technology with long delays in three second-half goal incidents that contributed to eight minutes of additional time and a lot of additional frustration.
Klopp could have named Liverpool’s youngest Champions League starting XI with an average age of just 24 years and 26 days, but it would have been considerably younger had it not been for the surprise inclusion of Salah (28) and Fabinho (27 ).
On a dead rubber it seemed reckless to risk injuring two key men, but there was a method to Klopp’s motive, as the only three players to play in Sunday’s win over the Wolves, Salah, Fabinho and rookie goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher , played an important role.
Salah’s first goal was courtesy of a mistake by Midtjylland, which became the first team to concede two goals in the first minute of the Champions League in the same season.
Scholz’s backward pass attempt got stuck under the feet of central defender Dion Cools and Salah took advantage of it, who ran clear to pass a shot past the goalkeeper.
Fabinho’s biggest contribution came in the 33rd minute when he hooked a Sory Kaba header off the goal line, the second time he made such a punt after doing something similar in his first game against Ajax.
And on the edge of the break, Kelleher stood his ground to block Awer Mabil’s close-range attack, producing an even better save from Erik Sviatchenko in the final five minutes.
Diogo Jota and Naby Keita had good chances saved by Jesper Hansen, but in another disappointing display, Divock Origi missed the goal and only the goalkeeper to beat was attacked by Salah when he could have only done so in a two-on-one.
Apart from Salah’s goal, it was a night of milestones with Scouser Trent Alexander-Arnold, 22, becoming the third-youngest captain in the club and the youngest in Europe.
By comparison, Gerrard was 23 when he took the bracelet, although that was permanently.
Another academy graduate, Leighton Clarkson, whom Klopp described as one of the club’s greatest talents, made his European debut after having previously participated in just two national cup qualifiers last season.
Another salute came early in the second half when center-back Billy Koumetio replaced Fabinho, becoming Liverpool’s youngest player in the European Cup / Champions League at the age of 18 and 25 days.
By standing alongside Rhys Williams, Liverpool’s central defensive association now had a combined age of 37 and Midtjylland almost took advantage of that inexperience with Evander smashing a shot off the crossbar.
With Kostas Tsimikas off the court receiving treatment, Midtjylland drew in controversial circumstances.
Anders Dreyer was brought down by Kelleher, but referee Francois Letexier saw an offside flag and blew for the free kick.
However, a VAR review advised the referee to address the pitch monitor and the Frenchman subsequently awarded a penalty from which Scholz scored.
Scholz had a second goal ruled out by a legitimate offside flag, as the arrival of Andy Robertson, Jordan Henderson and Roberto Firmino failed to regain control of the Reds.
The Liverpool players, in some understandable way, spent the final 10 minutes trying to avoid overexertion or injury that only roused their hosts with Kelleher and then Henderson, with a sliding block on Evander after a breakout, denying them a winner.
There was still time for Takumi Minamino to have a goal disallowed for a hand from Sadio Mane as the VAR kept confusing and confusing.
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