Liverpool Strike Lucky Number Seven
Rangers vs Liverpool – What we learned
By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool travelled to Ibrox on Wednesday evening to face Rangers FC, The Reds were looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat at Arsenal at the weekend, and in turn, keep their Champions League campaign right on track, but just what exactly did we learn?
With a very loud and passionate home crowd behind them, Rangers managed to start the better of the two teams, with former Liverpool player Ryan Kent’s attempt just missing Alisson Becker’s top right-hand post as an early warning shot was fired.
And then Ibrox got lift-off thanks to a well-put-together fast-paced move from the Rangers attacking players, finding Scott Arfield who comfortably managed to slot the ball home into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, as the Scottish Premiership side got off to the perfect start.
The Reds managed to get to grips with the occasion and found themselves level, thanks to a lovely corner from Kostas Tsimikas that found Roberto Firmino in space as he powered the ball home past Allan McGregor, as Liverpool were back on terms.
Rangers threatened to take the lead before half-time, once again through Arfield, but this time Ibrahima Konate was in the way with a brilliant block to save Liverpool’s blushes.
At the start of the second half, Liverpool really started to turn the screw, and they got their just rewards when Harvey Elliott found Joe Gomez he managed to run into space and cross the ball early for ‘Bobby’ to finish comfortably and give The Reds The lead.
Then it was the Brazilian’s turn to turn provider as he set up Darwin Nunez as he made handy work of putting away another goal for Liverpool, and all but wrapping the game up in the process.
From then on Liverpool’s Egyptian King Mohamed Salah came on to simply steal the show with a sensational hat trick his first coming from him being in the right place at the right time, taking the ball down from the air brilliantly, and calmly placing the ball past McGregor, his second was even better as he stepped on the ball to stop it dead, looked up and curled the ball into the bottom right-hand corner leaving McGregor with no chance, the sensational striker then went on to complete his hat trick, as he placed the ball into the left-hand corner as the Rangers goalkeeper this time stood motionless and Salah simply rediscovered his goal-scoring touch.
And to cap off a truly wonderful night there was a first goal for Harvey Elliott in senior European competition, McGregor denied Diogo Jota from close range, but the rebound fell for the young Englishman on a plate and after a long VAR wait the gaol was given, and it was once again celebrations all around as The Reds ran out 7-1 winners on the evening in Scotland.
Conclusion
It was a truly remarkable night in Scotland when Liverpool rediscovered their excellent form from last season, where both goals and play flowed, especially in the second half where everything about the performance was just a joy to watch, and to boot it should give Liverpool great confidence ahead of Manchester city’s visit to Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Stand out players
Mohamed Salah
It was just a truly wonderful performance from the substitute, with one goal better than the next, he looks to have rediscovered his form just at a time when Liverpool need it most.
Harvey Elliott / Darwin Nunez
It was great to see the two lads scoring well-taken goals and they generally played well throughout their time on the field giving Rangers all types of problems on the night.
