Liverpool came back to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in their Champions League opener, with Alexis Mac Allister scoring the winner. According to Al Jazeera, Mac Allister made his case for an improved Liverpool contract no harm with the winner as head coach Andoni Iraola got off to a winning Champions League start. Mac Allister expressed his frustration at not being offered a new deal on the eve of Wednesday’s match, but responded by blasting home from the edge of the box to cap Liverpool’s comeback.

Early lead and comeback

Marcos Llorente had given Atletico an early lead before Dominik Szoboszlai levelled the score before half-time, while According to Al Jazeera, victory came at a cost for the Reds, as new signing Bradley Barcola limped off with a calf injury. For the first time, three players who cost in excess of 100 million pounds ($135m) were named in the same side as Barcola made his Anfield debut alongside Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz in the Liverpool attack.

Manager and player ratings

According to ESPN, manager Andoni Iraola was given a 7 out of 10 rating for his first Champions League match in charge of Liverpool, his side were surprisingly open defensively in the first half and played a dangerously high defensive line that Atlético exploited to open the scoring. But Liverpool improved vastly in the second half and deservedly took the lead through Mac Allister’s screamer; Whatever talk Iraola gave to the team at half-time must have worked. Despite pressure from Atlético’s attackers, Liverpool remained composed and saw out the win with confidence.

Player ratings from ESPN were as follows: GK Alisson, 7, Made an excellent save from Julián Álvarez, who had caught the ball sweetly — Was beaten one-on-one by Llorente for Atlético’s goal but the save against Álvarez more than made up for it. RB Ronald Araújo, 7, We’ll be talking about Araújo’s lovely backheel for Szoboszlai’s goal for a while; other than that, wasn’t to blame for Llorente goal and did his job decently. CB Jérémy Jacquet, 6 — Solid in defence and made a couple of important interceptions in the box to stop Atlético from scoring more than once.

Context and future implications

According to Al Jazeera, Isak fired just wide after a purposeful break by Szoboszlai in an energetic start by Liverpool in the first Champions League game of Iraola’s career. But in their desperation to pour forward, the Reds left themselves wide open to the counterattack; Atletico were humbled 3-0 by Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to cap an underwhelming start to the season by Diego Simeone’s men.

Julian Alvarez’s future has cast a cloud over Atletico on and off the field for the past few months after his desire for a move to Barcelona was steadfastly rejected by the club’s hierarchy. According to Al Jazeera, the win will give Liverpool confidence as they continue their Champions League campaign, with Iraola now having two wins in a row following the victory over Ipswich Town in the Premier League last week.