LIVERPOOL BEAT VILLARREAL AFTER TWO-GOAL DEFICIT

Liverpool came from two goals down to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield in the Champions League. Alexis Mac Allister scored twice as Liverpool recovered from a poor opening half-hour. Ronald Araujo scored an equaliser, and substitute Florian Wirtz struck Liverpool’s fourth goal. Tani Oluwaseyi volleyed in a late third goal for Villarreal. The result gave Liverpool three successive wins in all competitions and kept their Champions League record at 100%.

Andoni Iraola made six changes to the Liverpool side that beat Brentford on Saturday, with Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Bradley Barcola starting on the bench. Isak had recently suffered a thigh injury, while Wirtz and Barcola had played heavily during Liverpool’s previous three matches. Trey Nyoni made a second successive Champions League start, and Ryan Gravenberch took a more advanced role. Early errors by Virgil van Dijk gave Villarreal chances, including one for Georges Mikautadze after a clearance by Renato Veiga. Jérémy Jacquet closed down Mikautadze before he could reach goal.

Mac Allister headed in one of his goals from a Kostas Tsimikas corner. Wirtz added his goal after coming off the bench, while Araujo, who joined Liverpool on loan from Barcelona, also contributed to the comeback. Liverpool moved to second in the Champions League table after the match. Villarreal’s Iñigo Pérez and Iraola, former Athletic Bilbao teammates, faced each other as coaches for the first time. Ian Rush attended the match on his 65th birthday.