Glimpse of bright future in emotional Anfield farewells

A day of firsts at Anfield and maybe lasts, too.

- RICHARD JOLLY

For the first time, their £100m men were twinned on the scoresheet as, for the first time, Alexander Isak struck for Liverpool in the Premier League at Anfield. Andy Robertson scored what is very likely to be his last one. One glorious era is ending, even if Liverpool have insufficient evidence so far that their colossal spending will herald the start of another.

It was about the old and the new. Florian Wirtz’s 96th-minute goal, classily hooked in from 12 yards, meant he and Isak scored in the same game, even if the Swede had gone off by then. Robertson’s strike meant the three scorers could have a combined cost of £249m, although he only accounts for £8m of it.

But emotional farewells beckon. Indeed, one may have to be fast-tracked. If this could have been the day when Mohamed Salah struck in front of the Kop for the last time, he instead limped off, applauding all four stands, a gesture that may have betrayed fears a suspected hamstring injury will rule him out of Liverpool’s last four matches. “We don’t know,” Arne Slot said. “Let’s hope for the best.”

For the departing duo of Salah and Robertson, the end is nigh. They seem likelier to leave a club with Champions League football. Anfield was ecstatic at times, anxious at others. Crystal Palace, so often their bogey club, could scarcely have been closer to an equaliser, with the substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen’s shot striking both posts.