STRIKERS WIN GAMES, defences win titles.
That’s one of those well-worn cliches that helps fill the football lexicon.
“Put it in the mixer for the big man” is another.
And that’s how Liverpool triumphed in their Champions League opener with AC Milan, but there was so much more to the performance at the San Siro.
Sharp in possession, thrilling on the counterattack and vulnerable defensively. The Arne Slot era continues with another first: this one being a win in Europe for the new Anfield boss.
Cody Gakpo was also the latest attacking star to shine. Preferred to Luis Diaz on the left of the front three, the Netherlands international set up the third goal of this 3-1 victory with a positive run into the box, clever change of pace and precise cross for Dominik Szoboszlai to side-foot into the corner.
It was indicative of Gakpo’s incisive play all evening.
Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate scored the goals that mattered in the first half, their two headers inside the six-yard box coming after former Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic caught the visitors cold inside three minutes.
The Nottingham Forest defeat in the Premier League at the weekend clearly was not out of their system when Van Dijk was pulled out of position towards the half way line only to get nowhere near the ball and get caught in no man’s land.
Milan broke down the right and the American international powered across goal into the bottom corner after Konate hesitated and opted not to close the angle.
They were mistakes that did not linger.
The Frenchman was first to make amends with a clear run and jump for his powerful equaliser on 23 minutes. The defending was appalling, and Liverpool made them pay, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s delivery the perfect invitation.
Van Dijk’s header also came inside the six-yard box but started with him making a run from behind goalkeeper Mike Maignan as Konstantinos Tsimikas took a corner in the 41st minute. It was from practically a standing jump but with non-existent marking and being so close to goal the finish was an easy one.
That set-piece only came about because of the thrilling interplay involving Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Mo Salah on the counter attack.
Gakpo was substituted just after his final contribution, the assist for Szoboszlai, and he was brilliant from his slot on the left side of the attack. For this break, he linked with Jota who drove forward and teed up Salah. The Egyptian also didn’t manage to find the net but two fierce strikes in the box – with both feet – smashed off the cross bar. The second of those came about after Gakpo cut in between two defenders on the left, jinked into the box and forced a save.
On this occasion Salah’s low shot was tipped wide by Maignan and the damage was done from the resulting set-piece.
The Milan goalkeeper was forced off with a leg injury moments into the second half when he bravely smothered a breaking ball from Gakpo’s shot as Jota fired the rebound towards goal.
Maignan had gone down previously with ankle and thigh complains during the first half and those accustomed to the tactics of League of Ireland goalkeepers may have felt it was simply a rouse to try and bide his team some breathing space.
They were being overrun and outclassed by Liverpool and when third-choice keeper Lorenzo Torriani had to be introduced Milan’s hopes were dwindling. The 19-year-old was born just five months before these two sides met in the 2005 Champions League final.
No comeback will be as revered at Anfield as that one but this was still an important moment for Slot.
The manner of the defeat to Forest at the weekend, and those opening few minutes in Milan, shows there are still vulnerabilities to be overcome.
But the thrilling play and varied points of attack provide far greater cause for optimism.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa made a stylish return to the Champions League with a 3-0 win at Swiss side Young Boys in their first game in the tournament for 41 years.
Villa boss Unai Emery had urged his team to take three points in Bern as a tribute to the club’s former striker Gary Shaw, who died on Monday aged 63 after being injured in a fall.
Shaw’s tragic death carried extra poignancy as he was a key member of the Villa side that shocked Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final.
A picture of Shaw celebrating Peter Withe’s winner against Bayern adorns Villa’s training ground and the players wore black armbands during their Champions League opener in memory of the local hero.
Clad in the number eight shirt that Shaw made his own at Villa, it was fitting that Youri Tielemans opened the scoring against Young Boys and celebrated by pointing to his jersey.
Jacob Ramsey bagged Villa’s second goal before the interval and Amadou Onana added the third in the closing stages as Emery’s men eased to a victory four decades in the making.
Villa are back in the Champions League after surprisingly finishing fourth in the Premier League last term.
Clashes with Bayern Munich and Juventus await among their remaining seven fixtures in the revamped league stage of the competition.
England captain Harry Kane scored four goals, including three penalties, as Bayern Munich beat Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 at home on Tuesday — becoming the first team to score nine goals in a Champions League match.
Kane opened the scoring from the spot after 19 minutes and a second-half hat trick took him to 33 Champions League goals, the most of any Englishman as he overtook Wayne Rooney’s mark of 30.
The comfortable scoreline masked a difficult period after the break when Bayern lost goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to injury and Zagreb rallied, scoring two goals in two minutes to cut the gap to 3-2 after five second-half minutes.
Former Crystal Palace forward Michael Olise scored a brace on his Champions League debut while Raphael Guerreiro, Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka also grabbed goals for Bayern.
The six-time Champions League winners had won every one of their past 20 opening matches in the competition dating back to 2002-03.
Written by David Sneyd and AFP, and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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