English football made a comeback this Friday evening. While Olympique de Marseille opened the ball in Ligue 1 against Rennes, on the other side of the Channel, Liverpool received Bournemouth in Anfield for the first day of the English championship. A first meeting that promised to be exciting with the defending champion and his XXL workforce against the Cherries who had shown great things last season. For this match, Arne Slot decided to take out the typical team with in particular Hugo Ekitike at the forefront of the attack. The Frenchman was accompanied by Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz. Ibrahima Konaté was also a defense holder.
Opposite, Bournemouth, who therefore lost this summer Huijsen, Kerkez (holder with the Reds this evening) and Zabarnyi, bet on former Lille Bafodé Diakité in defense. In front, the young talent Antoine Semenyo was expected and observed. And at the start of the game, after the now traditional tribute to Diogo Jota, Liverpool quickly set foot on the ball. Mohamed Salah quickly illustrated himself with a first strike repelled by Petrovic. Bournemouth timidly replied a few minutes later. But after around thirty minutes balanced, Hugo Ekitike came out of the shadows to score his first goal in the Premier League.
End of the crazy match
The French striker, already a scorer despite the defeat during the Community Shield (against Crystal Palace), scored his second goal in two games in his new colors. He was playing the opposing defense with a favorable counter then deceived without trembling Petrovic (1-0, 37th). Upon returning from the locker room, Liverpool made the break thanks to a very nice goal from Cody Gakpo. The Dutch international dribbed several players before arming a powerful strike since the entrance to the surface (2-0, 49th). We then thought of this folded match. But that was without counting on the Semenyo phenomenon on the side of Bournemouth. The Ghanaian striker first reduced the gap at the time of play in an almost harmless way (1-2, 64th). And this goal clearly made Liverpool doubt that fell and left spaces.
Fatal error in front of a profile like Semenyo. The 25-year-old made a 70-meter race, took advantage of the calls of his partners to set the defense of the Reds, and placed a precise strike, leaving Alisson helpless (2-2, 74th). The cold shower for Liverpool after last weekend defeat against Crystal Palace. So Arne Slot decided to react by making Chiesa come back in particular. The Italian, in check since his arrival in England, decided to wake up for this first day. In the last minutes of the meeting, he turned into a hero and delivered his own from a good recovery (3-2, 89th). A crazy scenario that did not stop there since in additional time, Mohamed Salah took advantage of the spaces left to go from his goal (4-2, 90th+6). He has now marked each first day of the Premier League since… 2017. Liverpool begins with a great victory in a crazy match and temporarily takes the lead in the championship.
