A satisfying night in the end for Liverpool. For a while it looked like Maribor would succeed in scrounging the 0-0 that they came for, but Klopp’s team eventually opened them up thanks to three fine goals. Salah and Sturridge both finished beautifully, while Can’s was an all-round peach of goal. Wijnaldum’s ankle injury was an obvious negative and there were other frustrating moments in the first half - and Handanovic saved Milner’s penalty in the second - but Liverpool have cruised to the top of their group. Their next match, away to Sevilla, will be very different to this one.
Liverpool catch Maribor off-guard with a quick corner. Moreno then sends over a cross from the left. When it falls to Sturridge at the back post, his kills the ball with his thigh and then rams it into the net from seven yards ... for his first Champions League goal in seven years!
Daniel Sturridge hammers the ball home. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Sturridge celebrates his goal. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
83 min: Maribor strides from midfield, glides past one opponent and then bulldozes his way past another. His shot from 18 yards is deflected out for a corner.
82 min: Alexander-Arnold makes another enterprising break down the right to join in an attack. But that attack founders when Sturridge loses possession.
79 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain delivers an outswining corner from the right. It fails to beat the first defender. But when the ball comes back to him he sends over a better cross, which is headed behind for another corner. This one is cleared properly by Tavares.
73 min: A bad touch by Viler allows Alexander-Arnold to nip in and rob the ball. The youngster then dashes 10 yards further forward to get into shooting position. Then he opens fire. His low shot fizzes a couple of yards wide.
70 min: Salah tries to dash past Suler down the right. But the defender does well to keep pace with him and poke the ball out for a corner. Miler takes it short to Salah, who knocks it out for Alexander-Arnold. The full-back swings in a cross. Easy pickings for the keeper.
67 min: A beautiful change of pace takes Milec past Matip at the right-hand side of the box. From the byline he clips a pass towards Bohar. Karius gets a hand to it to make it fall to Bohar’s wrong foot - so instead of shooting, Bohar opts for a pass. But he didn’t look to see whether anyone was there, and Liverpool clear.
Brilliant goal! After a series of popped passes, Can runs with the ball towards the box, plays a sharp one-two with Milner and then creams a low shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards! That was exactly the sort of inventiion and precision that Liverpool had been crying out for.
Emre Can of Liverpool scores his sides second goal. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images
60 min: Alexander-Arnold stands over a freekick, about 28 yards out and a little to the left. The crowd in the Kop hold their breath ... and then jump up to try to catch the ball after it sails over the bar.
Maribor substitution: Tavares on, Mesanovic off. That’s Maribor replacing their lone frontman with another one. Not exactly what you’d call ‘going for it’ but perhaps they’re relying on a combination of Liverpool’s erratic finishing and flawed defence giving them a route to an equaliser. It’s not the wackiest plan.
56 min: A corner from the left drifts all the way across to Firmino beyond the back post. he takes a touch and tires to blast it past Handanovic, but the keeper spreads himself to make another fine save, this time with his legs.
55 min: Salah and Oxlade-Chamberlain exchanges a nifty one-two outside the box before the latter had a pop from 20 yards. It’s deflected out for a corner.
Milner hits it hard and low to the goalkeeper’s left. but Handanovic dives full-stretch and pushes it against the post and out! Liverpool just can’t find a reliable spotkick taker.
Maribor’s Jasmin Handanovic guesses right and saves the penalty from Liverpool’s James Milner. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images via Reuters
Liverpool have the breakthrough and, as predicted, it came courtesy of a brilliant finish by Salah, who leapt to meet a cross from the right by Alexander-Arnold and flick the ball with the outside of his left foot into the net from eight yards! His touch had been awry in front of goal in the first half but that was supreme deftness.
A sublime piece of finishing Mohamed Salah gives Liverpool the lead. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
Salah celebrates after opening the scoring. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images
47 min: A ripple of applause from the home crowd to salute Liverpool’s good intentions at the start of this half. There was no hint of a shot but at least the home team have started with a bit more pace and have got more players in the box, with Salah and Can darting up to join Firmino.
46 min: Liverpool, with no personnel changes, get the second half in motion. Now to show us what canny schemes they came up with during the break to get the win they need.
Jurgen Klopp is experiencing the opposite of the Michael Fish effect: the storm he hoped to see has shown no signs of appearing. Maribor came to frustrate the team that thrashed them 7-0 a few weeks ago and they have been successful so far. Liverpool have dominated possession but really only presented strong evidence of how much they are missing Coutinho, Mane and Lallana. They have created a couple of promising shooting chances, mind you: but on each occasion they’re finishing was abysmal. Klopp can’t let this continue much longer: Sturridge and perhaps also Solanke are needed to shake up the visitors. On the plus side for Liverpool, Oxlade-Chamberlain has been lively and so, too, has Salah despite his wild finishing. At this rate, however, it’s not inconceivable that Liverpool are going to be hit on the counter-attack, even though Maribor have shown no threat going forward so far.
40 min: Intricate play by Oxlade-Chamberlain and Firmino, followed by a terrible shot by Salah, who scoops the ball high over the bar from 17 yards. He’s been wasteful in front of goal so far, which probably means he will open the scoring with a beauty: that’s pretty much how his Liverpool career has gone so far.
38 min: Sevilla have taken the lead against Spartak Moscow in today’s other match in this group. Liverpool, meanwhile, are being frustrated by Maribor’s mass defence and, on the few occasions that they have picked a way through, by their own scruffy touch in front of goal.
33 min: Can splits the defence with a cute low pass to Firmino. But the Brazilian’s control is shoddy, allowing Maribor to recover. Liverpool’s first touch in front of goal has been dreadful so far.
30 min: Alexander-Arnold drifts a cross in from the right. Can, having crept into space between the centrebacks, mis-times his jump and heads the ball straight up into the air from seven yards!
29 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain sweeps a splendid cross in from the right. Firmino stoops to get a header to it on the run, from 16 yards out. It also takes a nick off Billong, complicating matters for the goalkeeper. But Handonovic shows tremendous reflexes and agility to adjust his feet swiftly and stretch of his left arm to tip the ball on to the bar and out!
28 min: A replay of the Salah chance a moment ago reveals that the cross by Alexander-Arnold took a nice off Billong’s head just before it arrived at Salah, who miscontrol is now more understandable.
27 min: Freekick to Liverpool wide on the left, level with the 18yard line. Salah sends into a crowded area. It’s cleared as far as Oxlade-Chamberlain, loitering at the edge of the box. His low shot fails to make it through the forest of bodies.
25 min: A cross from the right floats over the head of Billong and lands at the feet of Salah, just seven yards out! But his control abandons him and the ball bounces off his thigh and towards the penalty spot, where it’s cleared by a grateful defender.
23 min: That was better from Liverpool. Their passing was snappier around the box, and for a moment a little shimmy by Oxlade-Chamberlain seemed to have created an opening. But a defender recovered quickly to block the shot at the expense of a corner.
20 min: Milner harasses Pihler into coughing up possession just outside the Maribor box. Salah then crosses to Firmino, whose header on the run flies over from nine yards. It was a difficult chance. Interesting that it came about from wining back possession - gegenpressing par excellence - rather than by Liverpool creating it from a standing start, so to speak.
18 min: Alexander-Arnold flights a cross from mid-way inside the opposing half into the box. But Firmino is the only Liverpool player in there and has little chance of outjumping the three centrebacks to reach it.
Liverpool substitution: Henderson on, Wijnaldum off. The Dutchman appeared to twist an ankle while running for the ball. Henderson trots on in his place, taking the armband of Milner as he passes him.
14 min: Anfield is full to capacity but there is very little noise: apparently watching Liverpool pass the ball around in front of deeply entrenched defenders does not move the local to song.
Maribor’s Martin Milec gets the better of Liverpool’s Alberto Moreno and wins the ball. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
12 min: Salah creates space for a shot with a lovely turn past Suler at the edge of the area. But his shot is then deflected behind for a corner, which comes to nothing.
8 min: Alexander-Arnold slips a pass through to Milner on the right-hand side of the box. Milner pulls the ball back to Oxlade-Chamberlain, who lets fly from 16 yards. But Billong hurls himself in front of it and make a fine block.
6 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain is out to impress today and no mistake. He’s been involved in everything good Liverpool have done so far. And he almost picked out Salah’s run with a clever chip over the top of Maribor’s massed defence. But Billong got his head to it to foil another move.
2 min: Klopp called for an intense start but Darko Milanic obviously instructed his team to stifle that: they’ve already retreated into an ultra-defensive formation. Avoiding another demolition is patently top of their agenda.
The teams have arrived on the pitch. The visitors are wearing all white, apart from a purple Alpine-themed pattern on their chests. Liverpool are all in red.
“We need to have a team which is ready for a very intense start. That’s what we want to have. A lively performance. Speed. Good in small spaces. Good offence with runs in behind. This is a team that has played before together, the only new player is Ox, who deserves it 100%.”
“That’s a strong XI and a strong bench,” squawks Gerrard Catebsy. “With Phil, Lallana, Mané and Clyne to come back, there is actually very good squad depth, apart from at centreback.” Lots of attacking talent, for sure. But how about central midfield until Keita arrives? You’re not buying the notion that Oxlade-Chamberlain will do a job there, are you?
While Maribor have made five changes from their last meeting with Liverpool - all in midfield and attack, mind you - Klopp has decided against making big changes. If you thought this was an ideal opportunity to have a look at Gomez in central defence alongside Matip, then you’re not the Liverpool manager because he’s plumped for Klavan. And the spell that Moreno appears to have ast over his manager during the summer shows no sign of wearing off, which means Robertson’s on the bench again. And so is Sturridge, as Oxlade-Chamberlain starts ahead of him. Never let it be said that Klopp isn’t a man of conviction.
Hello. Jürgen Klopp has been warning his players against complacency as Liverpool prepare to meet a side whom they spanked 7-0 just a couple of weeks ago. To emphasise his point Klopp invoked the 1954 World Cup final - the so-called Miracle of Berne - when West Germany amazingly beat Hungary 3-2 despite having been led on a merry dance by the Mighty Magyars in the group stages of the very same tournament, when Hungary sashayed to an 8-3 win. Max Morlock opened the scoring for the Germans in the final before Helmut Rahn struck twice; reports that several German players barfed in the dressing room after the match and that others later came down with jaundice does not amount to proof that Pervitin played a role in the campaign. Still, perhaps Klopp could have used a different reference: he could even have mentioned that Liverpool lost 2-1 to Besiktas in the 2007-08 Champions League before facing the same side at Anfield a few weeks later and taking spectacular revenge in the form of an 8-0 victory. That is still a record scoreline for this stage of the Champions League, although, since we are too often guilty of overlooking Welsh club football, we should point out that Bangor City were demolished 10-0 by HJK Helsinki in the qualifying round of the 2011-12 tournament. Liverpool, though, won’t be focusing on records today because they’re got to concentrate simply on securing the victory they need given in a group that is proving tighter than expected. From a neutral viewpoint, then, we need Liverpool to fire in a few early goals and they shift into record-chasing mode. Failing that, a shock early lead for the Slovenians could make things interesting ...
