Liverpool ended a run of four-straight defeats in ruthless fashion, coming from behind to dismantle Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konte, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai all found the net as Arne Slot’s side bounced back from a 2-1 defeat to rivals Manchester United in style.
Slot made five changes to the side following the loss at Anfield on Sunday, with Mohamed Salah among those dropped to the bench.
And the shake-up appeared to pay off, with the Reds, despite falling behind to a 26th-minute Rasmus Kristensen goal, hitting back with a statement victory.
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Liverpool start sluggishly
Liverpool’s flight to Germany on Tuesday had been delayed by almost four hours because of technical difficulties with the plane.
Their hosts, however, gave them little time to find their feet as Frankfurt came racing out the blocks, laying down the gauntlet early on courtesy of pacy duo of Jean-Matteo Bahoya and Ansgar Knauff in attack.
The Bundesliga club have featured in some of the most entertaining matches anywhere in Europe this term. In the space of just 12 days in September, they featured in a 5-1 win, 6-4 win, 4-3 defeat and 5-1 defeat.
Goals at both ends seem to be a staple of their encounters, so it was somewhat surprising that the opening 25 minutes passed by without many clear-cut chances for either team.
By that point, the Premier League champions had settled and were beginning to dominate. However, on 26 minutes, the hosts struck when right-back Kristensen whistled a low shot past Giorgi Mamardashvili following a sweeping move.
The visitors begin the comeback
Less than 10 minutes later, Liverpool were level. Former Eintracht player Ekitike raced clear from Andy Robertson’s long pass before confidently slotting home.
The visitors’ tails were up once more. Van Dijk headed in Cody Gakpo’s corner just four minutes later to turn the game on its head.
With the rain falling heavy at the Waldstadion, the floodgates had well and truly opened. From another corner on the stroke of half-time, Konate added a third to give Slot’s side a healthy two-goal cushion going into the break.
More of the same from Slot’s side in the second half
The goalfest continued after the restart. Cody Gakpo netted a fourth shortly after the hour-mark when he gratefully received Florian Wirtz’s perfectly-weighted pass across the box before slamming the ball into the bottom corner.
Szoboszlai then got in on the action, rifling a fine strike beyond Michael Zetterer from another Wirtz assist for number five.
It proved the last real action of a thoroughly entertaining contest, one that Slot and his players will hope marks a return to form after a run of disappointing results.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com
