2 days ago
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Where to start with this intoxicating Premier League white-knuckle ride? As second-half stoppage time ticked into a fifth minute, the Bournemouth defender James Hill hurled a long throw into the box and, with Alisson slipping and sliding on the sodden turf, Amine Adli wellied in a winner with almost the last kick of the game to condemn Liverpool to defeat. Fifteen minutes earlier Dominik Szoboszlai cannoned in a stunning free-kick to haul Arne Slot’s side level from two goals down. Slot clenched both fists and gave his assistant Giovanni van Bronckhorst a high 10, but it was Andoni Iraola, beaming from ear to ear, who departed the pitch high-fiving his staff.
For Liverpool, this was another rather sobering experience. Virgil van Dijk made amends for presenting Bournemouth the lead and Milos Kerkez, who struggled on his return to the club and was exposed when Álex Jiménez doubled the hosts’ lead, was hooked at the interval. On this evidence Liverpool would be naive to allow Andy Robertson to depart for Tottenham. Mohamed Salah was anonymous, his greatest contribution backheeling the ball to Szoboszlai for his goal. Slot and Liverpool looked shell-shocked when Adli scored to earn their second win since October.
Liverpool made an encouraging start, Salah slicing wide from the edge of Bournemouth’s 18-yard box after a Florian Wirtz layoff. Hill was busy at centre-back, snuffing the ball out when Salah looked to square for Cody Gakpo, preferred to Hugo Ekitiké up front, and a few minutes later Hill cut the cord to Salah when Wirtz looked to play in the Egyptian. Adam Smith, the reliable Bournemouth captain, intervened when Wirtz squared the ball after reading Salah’s cute pass.
But Bournemouth seized the lead when Van Dijk failed to deal with Marcos Senesi flipping the ball over the top of the Liverpool back line. Van Dijk was too casual, flicking his left boot at the ball, but the Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott stayed alive and side-footed the ball in from the byline for Evanilson to blast home from inside the six-yard box on 26 minutes. Joe Gomez was collateral damage, hobbling off after colliding with Alisson as the ball rippled the Liverpool net.
Slot, hands rooted in pockets, paced the away technical area as the minutes ticked by, all the while Liverpool continued with 10 men, Ryan Gravenberch moonlighting as a centre-back. It was the 35th minute by the time Wataru Endo, whose warm-up lasted for what, presumably, felt like an eternity, came on – and by that point Liverpool trailed by two goals. Hill, enjoying a breakthrough season after joining from Fleetwood Town amid interest from Barcelona four years ago, slipped the ball behind Kerkez and Jiménez, close to joining on a permanent deal from Milan, read the perfectly weighted pass. The full-back, who operated as a right winger here, then drilled the ball through the legs of Alisson.
Eventually Endo entered to partner Van Dijk in the centre of Liverpool’s defence. It is fair to say he arrived into a battle, Bournemouth biting into challenges and attacking with gusto. With half-time looming, Wirtz whistled a shot wide and Salah, potentially offside, fluffed a volley. But just as a lively encounter veered into first-half stoppage time Van Dijk in part redeemed himself. Szoboszlai’s inswinging corner flew towards the front post where the Liverpool captain glanced in to halve the deficit. Slot clenched his right fist in celebration, his half-time team talk now that bit easier.
Slot turned to Robertson at the break but it was another substitute, the 17-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha, who was the catalyst for Liverpool’s equaliser. Ngumoha replaced Gakpo and quickly got to work on hurting Bournemouth’s back line. The teenager drove infield and Jiménez got too hands on, the referee, Michael Salisbury, awarding a free-kick a little more than 20 yards from goal. What happened next was majestic from a Liverpool perspective, Salah laying the ball on for Szoboszlai to dispatch an unstoppable, thumping right-foot strike into the far corner of Djordje Petrovic’s goal. There was another twist in the tale, however, Adli feasting on a scramble to have the final say.
