Match report: Liverpool come from two down to beat Villarreal at Anfield

The visitors made the early running on a rainy Tuesday night at Anfield, with Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona putting them 2-0 up by the half-hour mark.

But the Reds were level by the break thanks to headers by Alexis Mac Allister and Ronald Araujo, and were irresistible after the interval.

Two goals in the space of three minutes – Mac Allister’s second of the evening being quickly followed by a Florian Wirtz strike – ensured their dominance was accurately reflected on the scoreboard.

Tani Oluwaseyi pulled one back for Villarreal in the closing stages, but Andoni Iraola’s side saw out the remainder to maintain their 100 per cent winning start to the league phase.

Team

Iraola made six changes to his line-up, with Ryan Gravenberch and Trey Nyoni starting in midfield. Kostas Tsimikas, Cody Gakpo, Lewis Koumas and Rio Ngumoha were also named in the Liverpool XI.

Liverpool: Alisson, Van Dijk, Jacquet (Gomez, 74), Mac Allister, Gakpo, Tsimikas, Araujo (Wirtz, 46), Gravenberch, Nyoni (McConnell, 82), Koumas (Isak, 66), Ngumoha (Barcola, 74).

Unused subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Kerkez, Chambers, Danns, Laffey.

First half

The game had barely settled when Villarreal took the lead.

A rare miscalculation by Virgil van Dijk saw the Liverpool captain misplace his header back to Alisson Becker and Mikautadze stole in to score.

The Reds – with the enterprising Ngumoha to the fore down the right flank – sought a swift response but, despite plenty of possession and territory, visiting goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi remained largely untroubled.

And, on the half-hour, Villarreal inflicted further damage as Cardona rounded off a slick counter-attack.

But Liverpool were in no mood to countenance defeat and the comeback started with 36 minutes on the clock, when Mac Allister leapt to meet Tsimikas’ corner and glanced a fine header into the far corner.

Mac Allister then whistled a drive from distance narrowly wide but the Reds drew level at the very end of the half as Araujo nodded in Ngumoha’s teasing cross to the back post.

Second half

The momentum was now firmly with Liverpool and Gulacsi had to deny Gravenberch, Gakpo and Wirtz before the inevitable – a third goal for the Reds – arrived.

Villarreal were simply unable to contain Ngumoha, who skipped away from a couple of challenges before putting the ball on a plate for Mac Allister. The No.10 had timed his run to perfection and obliged with a close-range finish that crashed in off the crossbar.

Iraola’s team kept their foot on the accelerator and, just three minutes later, made it 4-2 as Wirtz found the bottom corner after collecting Gakpo’s pass.

Liverpool were naturally unable to sustain such a level of intensity and Ayoze Perez hit the post for Villarreal prior to Oluwaseyi scoring with a back-post volley with a few minutes left.

But the Reds had done enough to increase their Champions League points haul to nine and reel off a third consecutive victory across all competitions.

Attendance: 59,610