Firmino stuns PSG
By Harry Morgan
There was drama at Anfield on Tuesday as Roberto Firmino emerged from the bench to give Liverpool a late 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain on the opening day of the 2018/19 Champions League.
The last season finalist gave away a two-goal lead when Thomas Meunier and Kylian Mbappe canceled out Daniel Sturridge and James Milner’s 30th and 36th minute goals in the 40th and 83rd minutes respectively.
Firmino barely made the squad as he was declared ill hours before the game.
A quick recovery, however, landed the Brazilian a place on the bench, and he came on to score the winner a minute into injury time to give the hosts a deserving win over the French champions who failed to impress apart from the two goals they scored.
Liverpool looked desperate to score from the onset, and registered six corner kicks within the opening 14 minutes but could not utilise any of them.
It took PSG 16 minutes to register their first goal attempt as Neymar shot feebly into Alisson Becker ‘s hands before Sadio Mane shot wide nine minutes later after going round Neymar.
Van Dijk received the first yellow card of the night in the 26th minute with a bad tackle on James Milner, and the unmarked, Daniel Sturridge, put Liverpool in front on the half-hour mark by heading in Robertson’s cross from the six-yard box.
Liverpool gave PSG no reprieve after the restart, and Wijnaldum, in an attempt to push through Kimpembe and Thiago Silva, was impeded by Juan Bernet, resulting in a penalty which James Milner scored despite Areola spotting the direction.
Thomas Meunier reduced the deficit for the hosts in the 40th minute with a left footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner and closed the half with the scores at 2-1.
Neymar went close in the 57th minute but was caught offside, Salah found himself close to scoring in the 67th minute, but smashed feebly into Areola palm, three before Sadio Mane missed the post narrowly with a left-footed effort.
Salah’s pass was intercepted by Marquinhos in the 70th minute and a quick pass to Neymar led to a quick run into the Liverpool penalty. Van Dijk attempted a clearance, but ended up putting the ball in Mbappe’s way, and the Frenchman hit home with his first touch of the ball.
Jurgen Klopp replaced Sturridge with Firmino in the 72nd minute, and Trent Alexandr-Arnold saw his right footed shot blocked to safety five minutes later.
PSG looked to be earning a point with their lukewarm performance when Firmino fetched the winner.
The Brazilian cut into the PSG defence from the right flank towards the death of the game and capitalised on a loosed marking to shoot into the lower bottom corner of the right post to send the Liverpool.
