Liverpool FC beat Leeds United 4-3 yesterday in a season opening match-up of titleists. Leeds, who won the Championship division title last season and are now back in the top flight for the first time in 16 years, kept stride for stride with the reigning Premier League champions until the final minutes of regulation.
Coming back from a goal down, on three occasions, the game was knotted up at 3 until Mohamed Salah converted from the spot, in the 88′, to complete his hat trick. It was a very entertaining, high-scoring affair, and the most exciting game of the season opening weekend thus far.
“What a game, what an opponent, what a performance from both teams. A proper spectacle, I loved that,” Klopp said in postgame.
“It is pretty rare you see that many goals in a game, we have left space for improvement in our defending but that is not unusual for a first game. Our players have played a few days ago for their countries so it is possible.”
Three points is three points, but Liverpool will be hoping for a much better all around effort next time, when they visit Chelsea a week from today. They will need to be a lot better, as they’ll be taking on a Blues side that is much improved, after a big summer of spending.
Klopp knows he needs side to get a lot better, and fast, saying: “The opponent forced us to make mistakes. We can do better, we will do better, but I loved a lot about the game against a well-organised, passionate side like Leeds. We used our skills to cause them problems, we could have scored more and in the end we used set pieces, which is fine by me.”
“It is not like riding a bike, you can lose something in preseason and it takes time to all come together again. I am really positive about this game. Leeds will have a good season if they can keep up that intensity and they did it in the Championship with more games so why not?”
For Leeds, the next clash is in the EFL Cup, where they will commence their tournament competition against Hull City on Wednesday night.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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