Liverpool and Brentford share spoils in a six-goal thriller with Yoane Wissa netting a late equalizer after Curtis Jones stunner and Salah’s 100 th Premier League goal for the Reds.
There was a moment during the “madness” of this helter-skelter ride when Thomas Frank raised his eyebrows to Klopp who in turn puffed out his cheeks. Both men then immediately started smiling.
How appropriate. This was a wild evening, full of goals – six of them, drama and entertainment. Both sides could have won it, neither side deserved to lose it and the mutual respect on display as Hey Jude boomed out from the speakers at the end was obvious.
Here was a cloud of old-fashioned dust-up: you attack, we’ll attack, and let’s see what happens at the end. Whether they would want to sit through this every week is another matter but Klopp’s appraisal that it was ‘a wild ride’ was spot on.
Everything seemed to start so smoothly for Liverpool after Diogo Jota’s quick thinking sent Salah scuttling into Brentford’s area.
The Egyptian’s touch was a little heavy but he still managed to poke his effort beyond David Raya. However, Kristoffer Ajer was alert to the impending peril and ensured he ended up in the back of the net, rather than the ball, as he cleared off the line.
Initially, it felt as if this would be a long evening for Brentford but their response was excellent, full of energy and intensity. It’s a long time since Virgil van Dijk has been taken out of his comfort zone but that’s exactly what Ivan Toney did to him, jumping for headers like he was on springs.
Within two minutes, Brentford had seen an effort of their own kicked away from under the posts –Bryan Mbuemo thought he had scored when he deftly clipped a shot over Alisson Becker but Joel Matip did what Ajer had done and turned the effort away.
Eventually, Brentford got their reward. A well-worked set-piece sprung Liverpool’s offside trap and culminated with Sergi Canos cutting back from the byline; Toney helped it on with a backheel and awaiting at the back post was Ethan Pinnock to gleefully convert from four yards.
It would have been interesting to see how things would have turned out had Brentford managed to hold their lead. Nonetheless, Liverpool struck back quickly, a break in the 31st minute seeing Salah usher Jordan Henderson forward; the captain’s cross was perfect and Jota did the rest with a bullet header.
Liverpool started the second period in a similarly convincing fashion and Salah’s landmark moment eventually arrived in the 54th minute, when he timed his run onto Fabinho’s pass impeccably and finished, instinctively, the first time. It was given after VAR confirmed he was onside.
Back roared Brentford, who leveled again Vitaly Janelt pounced on the rebound after Pontus Jansson rattled the crossbar – 63 minutes had gone at that point and you knew the scoring hadn’t finished.
So, it proved. Liverpool went next, with the excellent Jones fizzing a 20-yard drive past Raya. Salah should have wrapped things up moments later but lofted a chance over the bar.
It proved costly as more chaos in the visiting defense enabled substitute Yoane Wissa to level again.
Still the drama wasn’t over. Van Dijk made an incredible tackle to stop Toney in his tracks when he was clean through, Raya made another magnificent save from another substitute, Roberto Firmino. It was bedlam but it was beautiful. The embrace Frank and Klopp shared suggested they knew it too.