The team to beat at home; and now, maybe, the team to beat in Europe, too. Following on from Wembley on Saturday, here was another huge statement from Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
That it took until the second minute of injury time to be delivered should not detract from its significance. Roberto Firmino merely gave his team-mates the victory they deserved. Both Paris St Germain goals came against the run of play – the second was their only shot of the half – and Liverpool dominated the majority of the match.
That the winner should be the work of a player who few expected to be on the pitch only added to the drama that this club feeds off in Europe. Saturday afternoon, Firmino was in Moorfield Eye Hospital, a wayward finger from Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen having dealt him an unusual, serious and painful optic injury.
Roberto Firmino came off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner as Liverpool claimed a 3-2 win over PSG on Tuesday
Firmino fired a sensational effort low into the bottom corner to gift Liverpool all three points after a thrilling clash
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp celebrates with his match winner on the pitch once the full-time whistle had sounded
Daniel Sturridge powers a header into the back of the net to put Liverpool ahead from close range after 30 minutes
The striker, starting instead of Firmino, wheels away after scoring on his first Champions League start for the Reds
Soon after, Liverpool had doubled their lead from the penalty spot following a reckless foul on Georginio Wijnaldum
Liverpool's two-goal lead did not last long though as PSG defender Thomas Meunier produced a smart finish to pull one back
Kylian Mbappe scored in the 82nd minute as PSG thought they had earned a point before Firmino struck the decisive blow
MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS AND MATCH ZONE
Liverpool: Alisson 6.5, Alexander-Arnold 7, Gomez 6.5, Van Dijk 7, Robertson 7, Milner 8.5, Wijnaldum 8, Henderson 8, Salah 6.5 (Shaqiri 85), Sturridge 7 (Firmino 71), Mane 7 (Fabinho 90+3.
Subs not used: Mignolet, Keita, Moreno, Matip.
Goals: Sturridge 30, Milner 36, Firmino 90+1
Bookings: Van Dijk
Manager: Jurgen Klopp 8
PSG: Areola 7, Meunier 7.5, Kimpembe 6, Thiago Silva 6.5, Bernat 6, Rabiot 5.5, Marquinhos 6, Di Maria 7 (Choupo-Moting 79), Mbappe 7.5, Cavani (Draxler 79) 5, Neymar 6.
Subs not used: Cibois, Kehrer, Diarra, Nkunku, N'Soki.
Goals: Meunier 40, Mbappe 82
Bookings: Meunier
Manager: Thomas Tuchel 6.5
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir 7
Attendance: 52,478
Player ratings by Dominic King at Anfield
Striker Daniel Sturridge made the most of a rare start by putting Liverpool in front with a powerful header from close range. Click HERE for more from our Match Zone.
Monday, said Klopp, he could not have played. But an extra 24 hours allowed Firmino to be placed on the substitutes bench. When replacement Daniel Sturridge had run his course after 70 minutes, to the delight of the crowd, Klopp bought him on. The significance of this act could not have been known at the time. When Firmino arrived, Liverpool led 2-1 and PSG were showing little sign of life.
There were seven minutes remaining when calamity struck,. Mohamed Salah gave the ball away, not for the first time on another comparatively uneven night, and PSG equalised. Looking for silver linings, it was a reminder, if there was any need, of how hard it will be to tread a repeat path to this tournament’s final again.
As group opponents, Liverpool can avoid PSG until the last eight at least in the knockout stage, but an undeserved late equaliser at least serves as notice of the rarefied atmosphere in this competition. When loose play lets in a player of Neymar’s quality, and he can give the ball to Kylian Mbappe, goals often result. That is what occurred late in the second-half and Klopp’s face told the story. He knew they should have been comfortable. He knows he had the better team.
Enter Firmino. For a man with one eye, he certainly knew where the goal was. What a finish it was to end the match, and what a response to a personal setback. Firmino won the header from the corner, then picked up the scraps after Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez had recycled the loose ball, striking it beautifully past goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
French starlet Mbappe tries to launch an attack as he glides past the challenges of Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson
Mohamed Salah and Neymar tussle for the ball in the early stages of the Champions League group match at Anfield
The Kop watches on as they welcome Champions League football back to the stadium for the first time this campaign
PSG's resistance to Liverpool's attacking threat broke after half an hour as Silva reacts to his side conceding the first goal
Sturridge performs his trademark dance routine celebration in front of a raucous Kop after opening the scoring
Inevitably, it was the goal that launched a thousand puns. Eye Carumba; The Eyes Have It – look, we’ve all got homes to go to and you can probably do you own. To the delight of pitchside photographers, Firmino then celebrated with a hand over his eye, as if doing the Moorfield test. In fairness, that probably won’t catch on like the antics ripped from Fortnite.
It was a bigger story than just one man, though. For while the winning margin was always going to be slim, the difference between the sides was not.
For the majority of the match, Liverpool overshadowed the PSG of Neymar, Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria. They dominated the first-half, controlled most of the second and could have scored more. PSG? Most of the second-half spent chasing the game was a crashing disappointment. Indeed it was Liverpool, not them, who first had the ball in the net but Sturridge was ruled to have fouled Areola before Salah tapped the ball in.
It is the intensity that sets Liverpool apart on European nights like this. PSG are not the first opponents, and will certainly not be the last, to endure passages of play when they simply cannot contain them. Roughly half an hour in, Liverpool scored twice in six minutes, and PSG seemed completely rattled by the levels of energy and determination they faced.
Forget the goals for a minute. It was around this time that Liverpool players began tackling each other in their determination to retrieve the ball, on two occasions a tackle sending a team-mate clattering to the floor.
Milner continued to perform his penalty-taking duties with confidence and slammed the ball past a helpless Areola
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp turns to celebrate with supporters after seeing his side goal into the lead on home soil
PSG striker Edinson Cavani vents his frustration at seeing his team fall behind to last season's Champions League finalists
Meunier responded quickest in the box to find the bottom corner of the goal in front of the Anfield Road stand
Liverpool's summer signing Alisson watches on as Meunier's effort finds the corner and halved the deficit before the break
The first time – Jordan Henderson cleaning out Gomez as collateral damage in his desire to shut PSG down – Klopp turned to the crowd behind his dug-out and punched the air in delight. He did that quite a few times during the opening skirmishes, invariably in response to one of those crunching tackles – hard but fair, never a foul – that are as much part of his style as that famous trident attack.
One challenge, by the magnificent James Milner on Neymar brought a cheer from Anfield louder than for any incident, bar the goals. The Brazilian rose, gingerly, his pride hurt more than his body. It wasn’t an old-style violent reducer, just a brilliant tackle, ferocious, committed – and one imagines rather rare in Ligue 1. When Klopp said PSG won’t have faced a team like Liverpool in recent months, this is what he meant.
They won’t have faced too many as magnificently committed to attack, either. PSG’s defenders probably enjoy a lot of quiet weekends, against teams so intimidated by their front line they barely think to attack. Within the first 15 minutes of this game, however, Liverpool had won seven corners.
They are truly terrifying in these spells and PSG deserve no little credit for living with them at the back as long as they did. Thiago Silva, the captain, was particularly good – a pity then that it was his resistance that was broken for Liverpool’s opening goal.
It came after 30 minutes. An overhit cross from the right, collected by Andy Robertson on the left and whipped in first time – Kieran Trippier-style – to be met by Sturridge with a header that left Areola no chance.
Sturridge does not bring as much to this team as Firmino – it is hard to imagine who would, given Klopp’s demands and the Brazilian’s tireless fulfilment of them – but this was a beautifully taken striker’s goal, capitalising on Thiago Silva’s failure to cut out the cross. He celebrated in his trademark style: you may find it annoying – no-one here did.
Salah thought he had restored Liverpool's two-goal lead when he tapped into an empty net from close range
The goal was quickly ruled out by the officials though and replays showed Sturridge had clattered goalkeeper Areola
Firmino, who sustained an eye injury during the win over Tottenham, replaced Sturridge in the second half
Momentarily, PSG lost their way. They had worked so hard to resist, indeed looked almost to have ridden the first red wave, and now this. Just six minutes later they were two down, thanks to a truly calamitous piece of defending.
There really was no reason for Juan Bernat to trip Georginio Wijnaldum in the penalty area. The space was congested, there was barely a way through, yet the foul was obvious and immediately given by referee Cuneyt Cakir. Milner stepped up and, in front of The Kop, took a perfect penalty. Areola went the right way, but it was low and to his left and targeted with such precision, prescience was no ally.
This was Liverpool at their best. That Salah removed a layer of clothing before taking a corner kick says something – here was a performance too hot for a man born in Egypt.
That PSG went in at half-time only one down is testament to their powers of recovery as well as Liverpool’s propensity for self-harm. They might have come away with only a point against Tottenham having dominated, too, and they let PSG back in undeservedly here before half-time.
Bernat played the ball to Di Maria and his cross struck Robertson, falling to Thomas Meunier to lash it past Alisson. In a knockout game that could have been fatal. Here, it was largely a disappointing nuisance. And Firmino corrected the result at the last, anyway, restoring Klopp’s 20:20 vision.
Thomas Tuchel barks instructions at his team as they went in search of another equaliser at Anfield
They eventually managed to find one when the French team pounced on a loose pass from Salah before going on to score
Mbappe celebrates his late goal with the travelling PSG supporters but it did not prove to be good enough to earn a point
Firmino faked to shoot on his left foot initially before turning back onto his right and unleashing a powerful strike
It proved to be the decisive blow as the Brazilian wrapped up all three points and sent Liverpool top of Group C
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/liverpool-3-2-psg-roberto-firmino-scores-late-winner-at-anfield/
News Pictures Liverpool 3-2 PSG: Roberto Firmino scores late winner at Anfield
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/18/23/4378182-6181621-image-m-8_1537308685376.jpg
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