{"id":765864,"date":"2026-09-10T06:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T06:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/765864\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T06:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T06:20:15","slug":"alexis-mac-allister-makes-his-point-as-liverpool-fight-back-to-defeat-atletico-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/765864\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexis Mac Allister makes his point as Liverpool fight back to defeat Atl\u00e9tico | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the time and place for Alexis Mac Allister to do his talking on the pitch and the disgruntled Liverpool midfielder delivered on cue. \u201cVery sad\u201d over Liverpool\u2019s refusal to offer him a new contract, while Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch were getting theirs, Mac Allister made Anfield very happy with a match-winning display against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Argentina international, one of five World Cup finalists involved in an absorbing, delicately-poised contest, vented his frustrations in the best possible and most professional way \u2013 from behind an immaculate 20-yard strike into Jan Oblak\u2019s goal rather than a microphone. Mac Allister believes he is playing for a new deal this season and promised to give \u201c100% to my last day\u201d at the pre-match press conference. He was true to his word to extend Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s winless sequence against English opposition in the Champions League<\/a> league phase to 11 matches.<\/p>\n

For Andoni Iraola, it was the perfect start to life as a Champions League coach after an imperfect start to the game. Diego Simeone\u2019s switch to a 3-5-2 formation caught Liverpool<\/a> cold and it was only when they regrouped in the aftermath of Marcos Llorente\u2019s latest Anfield goal, and again during the half-time interval, that their performance level improved. Mac Allister\u2019s timely moment, Alexander Isak\u2019s relentless industry, Florian Wirtz\u2019s creativity and another performance of drive and intelligence from Szoboszlai ensured the Liverpool head coach had plenty to savour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to blame myself a bit for the start of the game,\u201d Iraola said. \u201cAtl\u00e9tico surprised us with the way they approached the game. They haven\u2019t used that system too much this season and it\u2019s difficult if you are not ready for it, but we adjusted and played better. In the second half we were the best team. We came back for the third time [this season] and that showed the players are pushing and they have character.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a night of firsts. Iraola coached a Champions League game for the first time in his career \u2013 he did take charge of 12 Europa League matches with AEK Larnaca in 2018-19 \u2013 Bradley Barcola made his first Liverpool start following a \u00a3123m move from Paris Saint-Germain and Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez was in Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s starting lineup for the first time this season since his failed attempt to join Barcelona. All appeared to have been forgiven \u2013 for now at least \u2013 as his name was cheered by the small pocket of Atl\u00e9tico fans when the teams were announced before kick-off and he repaid them by creating the opening goal.<\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai scores Liverpool\u2019s equaliser late in the first half. Photograph: Dave Thompson\/AP<\/p>\n

Llorente was the scourge of Anfield yet again when \u00c1lvarez threaded a pass behind the home defence and the right wing-back raced clear on goal. The man who named his dog Anfield after scoring twice to eliminate J\u00fcrgen Klopp\u2019s team from the competition in 2020, in the game played while Madrid was in lockdown from the Covid pandemic, lofted a confident finish beyond Alisson. It was Llorente\u2019s fifth goal at Anfield, half of his entire total of Champions League goals. He had been kept onside by Milos Kerkez, who endured a poor night with his positioning and distribution before atoning with a key role in Liverpool\u2019s equaliser.<\/p>\n

\u00c1lvarez almost doubled the visitors\u2019 lead when granted far too much time and space to take aim from almost 30 yards. Alisson, at full stretch, intervened with a superb finger-tip save. Anfield was growing restless at Liverpool\u2019s carelessness on the ball and Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s comfort on it. But the threat and control from the hosts increased.<\/p>\n

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Wirtz drew a fine save from Oblak at the end of a flowing move involving Barcola and Isak. Liverpool then drew level thanks to tenacity from Kerkez, a lovely touch from Ronald Ara\u00fajo and Szoboszlai\u2019s instinctive finish. The left-back won possession with a clean, crunching challenge on Lee Kang-in before finding Barcola. The France international was denied a goal on his full debut by Oblak\u2019s low save but Wirtz kept the pressure on and Szoboszlai, having been halted on the edge of the area, got a second bite from Ara\u00fajo\u2019s clever flick. The midfielder\u2019s first time shot sailed into the far corner.<\/p>\n

Barcola should have put Liverpool ahead when played through on goal by Wirtz early in the second half. The winger had time to measure the finish but pulled it wide of Oblak\u2019s right-hand post. He would later depart with cramp. Liverpool were ahead one minute later when the lively Rio Ngumoha beat Llorente and his cross fell to Mac Allister via a deflection off Isak. Mac Allister told Szoboszlai to leave the ball and drilled home an unstoppable left-footed drive from 20 yards. Atl\u00e9tico remained dangerous and the introduction of Ademola Lookman added an extra dimension to the visitors\u2019 attack but Liverpool defended impressively to secure a deserved victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the time and place for Alexis Mac Allister to do his talking on the pitch and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-765864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}