Liverpool have made no mistake in the first league game of the new season. The team of trainer Jürgen Klopp won 0-3 against PhD candidate Norwich City on Saturday evening. Virgil van Dijk made his return to the Premier League after 301 days: the defender has fully recovered after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee and started in the starting line-up. Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah accounted for the goals; Salah provided the assist for the goals he did not score himself.
Norwich, last season’s champion in the Championship, came in with Tim Krul under the bar. The goalkeeper had to act for the first time after ten minutes, when he tapped a header from Jota over the crossbar. Krul also saved Salah’s effort; on the other side, Alisson Becker got both hands against a bet from Teemu Pukki. After a missed opportunity by Sadio Mané, Jota managed to open the score after 25 minutes. Salah tapped the ball with some fortune after a low cross from Trent-Alexander Arnold, after which Jota appeared in front of Krul’s goal and searched the right corner.
Yes, yes there is Salah! ??
The Egyptian also contributes and has now scored five seasons in a row in the opening game?No Premier League player has ever done that??#ZiggoSport #PremierLeague #NORLIV pic.twitter.com/TUobfQ90Qs
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) August 14, 2021
After the opening goal, Liverpool dominated the game, without creating great chances in the remainder of the first half. Norwich limited themselves to counterattacks and failed to reach Pukki in the vanguard. Seven minutes after the break, Alexander-Arnold curled wide from a free kick; moments later, Krul parried a bet from the steamed left back Konstantinos Tsimikas. Liverpool managed to expand the margin via Firmino. The Brazilian was free in the penalty area when a shot from Mane was blocked, was reached by Salah and scored without difficulty.
Salah scored the last goal of the game sixteen minutes before the end. The Egyptian got the ball at the edge of the penalty area after a corner deflected off. He put the ball in front of his left and shot hard in the left corner. He became the first ever player to score in his club’s opening game in five consecutive Premier League seasons. Three minutes before the end, Alisson made a double save that Liverpool kept a clean sheet: he prevented both Benjamin Gibson and Adam Idah from scoring.