Van Dijk rises at the last to salvage win for Liverpool

It should have been a lot easier than this for Liverpool but the 92nd-minute roar to celebrate Virgil van Dijk’s winner against Atlético Madrid made the hardship worthwhile.

- Will Unwin

After scoring twice in the opening six minutes through Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah, Liverpool were galloping to victory but were pegged back by two goals from Marcos Llorente, only for their captain to head home a late corner and send Anfield wild in the process.

Many expected Alexander Isak’s first experience of being a Liverpool player at Anfield to begin on the bench but Arne Slot gave him a debut from the start, eager to see how long he would last, suggesting an hour would be his maximum. Without a preseason under his belt, Isak had played barely 20 minutes since May, those coming in a 2-0 loss for Sweden against Kosovo. The striker’s quality is unquestionable; the debate was over his sharpness.

Diego Simeone’s side arrived with a solitary win in four La Liga games to their name and, potentially influenced by Burnley, sat deep in an attempt to frustrate Liverpool. The Argentinian tried to make things difficult for the hosts with a traditional 4-4-2 formation, making Conor Gallagher the only English starter in the two teams in central midfield.