Liverpool beat AC Milan 3-1 at San Siro
It was Arne Slot’s first Champions League game in charge of the club
Virgil van Dijk was among the goalscorers.
Liverpool bounced back from a thoroughly disappointing weekend defeat to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening, impressively seeing off AC Milan in the UEFA Champions Leauge.
Arne Slot’s side went behind early in the game thanks to a Christian Pulisic goal, but then roared back to take the lead before half-time. Goals from centre-backs Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk made it 2-1 heading into the interval, before a Dominik Szoboszlai effort sealed the three points.
Here’s everything we learned from a crucial win for Liverpool at San Siro.
1. Cody Gakpo has earned more game time.
If you read our Top 90 series – in which we predicted the top 90 best players in the Premier League for the 2024/25 season – you’ll know that we’re expecting pretty big things from Cody Gakpo.
And, given his sublime performances at Euro 2024, justifiably so too.
In the early week of the new season, however, Gakpo has barely played any football under new Reds boss Arne Slot – thanks in large part to the exceptional form of Luis Diaz.
Following a subpar offensive performance against Forest on Saturday, Gakpo was finally given a chance to start, and it’s a chance he took with both hands.
The Dutch international was pretty damn brilliant at San Siro on Tuesday evening, causing problems with his movement off the ball and brilliance on it. He capped the outing off with a lovely piece of play to set up Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal too.
After such an impressive performance, Liverpool fans will be hoping Gakpo gets more minutes moving forward.
2. Arne Slot’s Liverpool will live and die by Dominik Szoboszlai.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Dominik Szoboszlai is one of the most talented attacking midfielders in the Premier League.
What’s been missing from his game thus far, however, is consistency.
Having starred in the first half of his maiden campaign at Anfield, the Hungary international essentially disappeared in the second half of it – rarely providing the creative guile he is capable of.
In the early weeks of the campaign it’s become clear that new manager Slot is hellbent on trying to get that first half of 2023/24 season form out of Szoboszlai, by making him a key player in his tactical set-up.
As a result, when the midfielder puts in a goalscoring, dynamic, performance like he did on Tuesday night, it seems that Liverpool will win games of football. And when he puts in a languid performance like he did in the defeat to Forest, they won’t.
If he can find some consistency, Liverpool will be serious contenders in both Europe and in the Premier League.
3. Virgil van Dijk is the best centre-back in the world.
The ‘best centre-back in the world’ conversation essentially centres around two players: Virgil van Dijk and William Saliba.
And to be honest, our answer to the question ‘who is better?’ changes on a daily basis.
At the weekend, after putting in a mammoth performance against Tottenham Hotspur, our answer was William Saliba.
After Virgil van Dijk pocketed the entire Milan attack and scored a goal of his own on Tuesday evening – our answer is Virgil van Dijk.
