Chelsea vs Liverpool LIVE!
New Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino saw the team he rebuilt in pre-season fight back to draw 1-1 at home to Liverpool in their Premier League opener as debutant defender Axel Disasi cancelled out Luis Diaz’s opener.
In a meeting of two of last season’s heavyweight flops, Diaz threatened to ruin Pochettino’s first competitive match in charge of the Blues when the Colombian stretched out a boot to turn in a defence-splitting pass by Mohamed Salah in the 18th minute as the visitors attacked with lightening speed. Liverpool thought they had doubled their lead just over 10 minutes later but Salah was judged to have been offside before he put the ball past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, one of four debutants in Chelsea’s starting lineup.
Chelsea weathered the storm and equalised in the 37th minute when Liverpool failed to clear a corner and France international Disasi – signed this month from AS Monaco – swept the ball in from close range after a looping Ben Chilwell header. Two minutes later, Chilwell rounded goalkeeper Alison Becker to put ball in the net but VAR ruled he was offside. Chelsea dominated possession after the break but failed to get a second goal. A deflected shot by substitute Darwin Nunez then almost won it for Liverpool in the dying moments.
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Klopp ‘absolutely fine’ with Salah reaction
Jurgen Klopp insisted Mohamed Salah’s angry reaction to being substituted was “absolutely fine” in Liverpool’s draw with Chelsea.
The Egyptian and Diaz were replaced by Ben Doak and Harvey Elliott with just under 15 minutes remaining, Salah ripping off his wrist tape and throwing it to the floor as he stormed off the pitch without acknowledging Klopp. However, the Liverpool boss had no issue with the incident when asked after the match.
“I can understand because if Mo scored it would have been a new record for goals scored in the opening game but I didn’t think about that,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“We needed stability and we needed fresh legs. It was super intense for everybody.
“That’s all I can say about it, his reaction was absolutely okay. When I sub a player and he is jumping in to my arms at 1-1 and he is a striker who thinks he will score, I would be really surprised so that’s absolutely fine.”
