Mane and Firmino dazzle as Leicester are destroyed
And so, the wait was over. 122 days after the last game at Anfield, Liverpool rolled into their £115 million refurbished home with the aim of lighting it up and leaving the Premier League champions in a heap.
They achieved just that, Leicester very evidently the lesser side in Saturday evening’s 4-1 victory in front of the biggest crowd on L4 since the final day of the 1976-77 season.
Jurgen Klopp had requested the stadium “be filled with life” at the unveiling of the new Main Stand on Friday afternoon, and it was electrifying at times.
Some of the football from the German’s side was utterly spellbinding; their aggressiveness in attack met by their appetite to starve Leicester of space, time and possession.
Cries of ‘Poetry in Motion’ filled the ground, with the chorus of ‘Liverpool, Liverpool’ equally deafening.
This was indeed Anfield.
For the most part of the first half, the Foxes would’ve found it easier scaling the steel structures of the new stand than thwarting Liverpool’s relentless swagger.
The champions could not string passes together with the hosts swarming in and out of possession. Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum controlled midfield, with Adam Lallana his dynamic and influential self. Nathaniel Clyne used the time and space he was afforded on the right, while Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge and Sadio Mane were a constant nuisance.
The Brazilian bagged the first goal at Anfield this season after receiving a clever ball from James Milner, before taking a touch to negate his marker and coolly finishing past Kasper Schmeichel.
Sturridge forced the goalkeeper into a sharp save shortly afterwards after a slick one-two between Mane and Lallana saw the former set him up.
The England international would switch roles for the second goal, playing provider to the Senegal international with a sweet backheel after an excellent defence-splitting ball from Henderson.
Liverpool were so superior and exuding so much confidence, the champions looked in real danger of being well out of the game before the interval.
Klopp’s side had seven shots on target in the first 45, with the visitors managing just one, which led to the goal that had been so charitably served to them. Simon Mignolet played out from the back to makeshift centre-half Lucas, who hit an undercooked return pass. In an attempt to nullify that mistake, he created an even more catastrophic one, slicing the ball across the danger area to a very receptive Jamie Vardy.
A period of unease followed at the back, stifling the authoritative work Liverpool had done before the error.
Lallana put them back in the ascendancy with an absolute scorcher in the far top corner to bring up the club’s 100th goal in all competitions under Klopp.
And if that wasn’t enough, Mane and Firmino combined at the end on the counter with the Brazilian adding one final blow on an evening Leicester will quickly want to forget.
Source: Goal.com
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