Liverpool [UK], August 20 : Liverpool cruised to a 3-1 win over Bournemouth in their Premier League clash on Saturday despite a red-card to Alexis Mac Allister in the second half and a shock initial lead gained by the Cherries.
Bournemouth started confidently and Jaidon Anthony had put the ball into the net in the first 90 seconds but was flagged for offside. Liverpool was simply not prepared for the surprise their opponents had in store for them as Antoine Semenyo robbed Trent Alexander-Arnold of possession in his own half and made it 1-0 for Bournemouth with a superb strike.
Liverpool took their time to regroup after this shock, with Luis Diaz providing the equaliser in the 27th minute, with two brilliant touches in the box that saw him fire the ball past an unsighted Neto.
Dominik Szoboszlai won a penalty for Liverpool after Joe Rothwell dangled a lazy leg in his direction inside the box. Mo Salah took the penalty but was denied a goal. But later on, the ball dropped to winger on the rebound and he effortlessly slammed it past the keeper. Now with 187 goals, he has overtaken Steven Gerrard to become the club's fifth all-time goal-scorer.
A third goal looked possible but Mac Allister was given a red card after his block tackle on Christie turned out to be high and contacted his skin.
In the 62nd minute, Diogo Jota made it 3-1 for Liverpool after his effort from range was spilled terribly by Neto.
Liverpool is in the fourth spot with a win, draw and four points while their opponents are in 14th with a draw and a loss and just one point.
Later, Liverpool's boss said as quoted by Sky Sports, "It was a horrible start. I thought the offside goal would be a wakeup call but then to concede again was not cool. Then we shook it off, scored two good goals and played really good football. The game then changed completely with us losing a man but we scored the third goal which was helpful and gave us energy."
On Mac Allister's red card, he said: "We have to talk about it and everyone agrees. I 100 per cent understand how it looks for the ref in that moment but when you see it back it is the inside of the foot with no power in it. We have seen harsher challenges that were not red cards that should have been. I think we should talk about it. If he said it was a yellow, the VAR would not have upgraded to a red card. Everything is lacking for a red card, the intensity. Yes, there was contact but there must be a different intention when it's a red card. We will talk to the people about it."
Klopp's side will now host Aston Villa on Sunday, September 3 while Bournemouth will play Tottenham on Saturday.
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