How 77-touch Liverpool star destroyed Villarreal

Liverpool climbed back from a two-goal deficit in the first half against Villarreal, maintaining their perfect start to the Champions League.

A Jekyll-and-Hyde effort from the Reds entertaining the fans, showing off the brilliant attacking potential throughout a side who were rather second-fiddle until the likes of Florian Wirtz were introduced after the break to a game-changing effect.

Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

However, there’s a lot for the Anfield side to work on, still bearing some of the residual damage from last season, masters at making life difficult for themselves.

How Liverpool played against Villarreal

Perfect start maintained, it’s also fair to say Andoni Iraola‘s side were far from perfect against Villarreal. In fact, they were shambolic across the opening half hour, with Virgil van Dijk‘s early error aggravated by left-back Kostas Tsimikas’ dismal defending.

Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

This is something of a concern for Iraola, and not an isolated incident. Of course, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni have not yet played this season, and in Jeremy Jacquet, Liverpool have signed a superstar. “The sky’s the limit“, said esteemed French journalist Julien Laurens.

There’s still a lot to sort out, and Iraola’s decision to field Ryan Gravenberch in an experimental No. 10 berth backfired. The Dutch midfielder was branded “the anti-Wirtz” by reporter Sam McGuire after the game, failing to create a chance or win a challenge – then pulled back into an unconventional right-back berth in the second half.

REUTERS/Phil Noble

The Reds have had some superstars in the Champions League, and on this night, a few looked to have been born under Iraola’s management.

Liverpool’s best players vs Villarreal

Liverpool did improve tenfold after the break, with Wirtz’s dominant display offering a glimpse of the talismanic quality still yet to surface after he joined the club from Bayer Leverkusen for £116m one year ago. The German opened his account for the campaign, creating two chances, winning seven duels, as well as all three of his attempted tackles.

REUTERS/Phil Noble

But Wirtz paled in comparison to Rio Ngumoha, who picked up two assists in what might have been his finest career performance to date. The teenage winger has the world at his feet, and Iraola marvelled over how he keeps adding dimensions to his game after the match.

Ngumoha fashioned two big chances and won seven of eight attempted dribbles. He gave Sergi Cardona a torrid time all evening, very much laying down the gauntlet and offering the suggestion that he has world-class potential.

The likes of Ngumoha and Wirtz showed that Liverpool may well have a frontline capable of challenging for the biggest titles this season, they weren’t the only stars to come up clutch.

Indeed, another of Iraola’s main men proved themselves to be the new Gini Wijnaldum against Spanish opponents in the Champions League.

Liverpool have found the new Gini Wijnaldum

Once upon a time, Wijnaldum produced one of the most clutch performances in Champions League history to down Barcelona and send Liverpool through to the final.

Now, Liverpool look like they have found a similar player in Europe’s elite club competition, with Alexis Mac Allister returning to his best level against Villarreal, opening the scoring when Liverpool were two down before notching again after the hour mark to hand Anfield the lead.

Mac Allister might not have produced a display of the same calibre, but there’s no question that he’s something of a European specialist for the Reds, saving the lion’s share of his goals for the club against continental opponents.

He loves the Champions League, and produced an influential performance to match that of Ngumoha and Wirtz, those snazzy attackers stealing headlines but lacking the completeness of Mac Allister’s effort in midfield.

Mac Allister, 27, fell by the wayside under Arne Slot last year, but he has been important this year. He is lifting himself back up this year, becoming a key cog once again. Despite spending most of the evening in Villarreal’s defensive half, hemming them in, the Argentina star completed 88% of his passes, taking 77 touches and creating four chances.

REUTERS/Phil Noble

He is not the same player as Wijnaldum once was for the Merseysiders, but the similarities are there. Gini loved a header (as Barcelona would tell you), and his intelligent calculated passing helped set the tone for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

If Iraola is going to lead this new Liverpool chapter toward a happy ending, then Mac Allister’s influence will play a big part.

He’s the real deal, now proving himself to be one of the most underrated players in Europe once again.