Liverpool vs Rangers LIVE: Champions League result, final score and reaction
Liverpool host Rangers in a Champions League group stage clash at Anfield
In the clash of the clubs from the banks of the Mersey and the Clyde, the real winner was Trent. The under pressure right-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold, set Liverpool on a path to victory they were expected to get. Perhaps he effected a swift transformation from scapegoat to top dog and certainly his celebration of a cathartic goal had an air of vindication.
Whether his brilliant free kick was an eloquent response to criticism or simply a demonstration of the gifts that make him a unique right-back, it brought him respite on an evening that ended not with another inquest, but a standing ovation.
For Liverpool, too, it was a restorative affair with Mohamed Salah adding a second with nonchalant ease. A continental campaign that began with the nadir of their worst performance under Jurgen Klopp now looks on course to conclude somewhere in the knockout stages. Napoli’s win over Ajax helps position Liverpool to qualify, if not win Group A, and they can plan for the return trip to Ibrox next week in greater need of points in the Premier League then the Champions League.
Relive the action from the Champions League as Liverpool defeated Rangers at Anfield:
Lundstram’s torn allegiences
Rangers midfielder John Lundstram was born in Liverpool and began his career with Everton in 2002, signing as a scholar in 2010.
After moving to Ibrox last year, he admitted that he will have family and friends supporting opposite sides this evening.
Trent Alexander-Arnold the fall guy but Liverpool’s defensive woes start elsewhere
It wasn’t a replay as much as a tape that seemed stuck on the same loop, the video nasty that appeared to confirm Gareth Southgate’s opinion that Kieran Trippier has a better all-round game than Trent Alexander-Arnold. At half-time inside Anfield, the television screens that can be viewed internally showed Brighton’s first two goals time and time and time again. And then again.
There was Alexander-Arnold, with a poor header out to allow Brighton to regain the ball; it is a weakness in his game, when a diagonal ball finds him at the far post. There he was, beaten too easily by Leandro Trossard before he opened the scoring; he is not a one-on-one defender of the calibre of Kyle Walker. There he was, attempting an audacious bit of chest control, only for Danny Welbeck to head the ball away from him in the build-up to Trossard’s second. Jurgen Klopp had mounted the case for the defence of Alexander-Arnold in eloquent, impassioned fashion on Saturday. The prosecution could show the footage and not worry about the words.
The strongest adjectives Klopp deployed after the 3-3 draw with Brighton were “horrendous” and “horrible.” Neither was applied to Alexander-Arnold, though the Liverpool manager said his side could have defended all three goals better. Defending, Klopp argues, is a collective endeavour. The back four are the obvious culprits when goals go in. “From the outside, that’s fine,” said Virgil van Dijk, who has admitted his own performances have dipped below his usual standards. “It’s more complex than that. Defending starts from the front.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold the fall guy but Liverpool’s woes start elsewhere
The England right-back was exposed in the 3-3 draw with Brighton but Jurgen Klopp was more frustrated by his midfield
Rangers record in Champions League
Rangers have now made 11 appearances in the Champions League group stage and are featuring for the first time since 2010/11 when, as in eight of their nine other campaigns, they were unable to reach the knockout rounds.
The exception came in 2005/06 when they got to the round of 16, beating Porto 3-2 along the way.
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Tottenham
Elsewhere in the Champions League tonight, Tottenham Hotspur travel to Germany to take on Europa League winners, Eintracht Frankfurt.
Here’s a look at the two confirmed line-ups:
Frankfurt XI: Trapp, Tuta, Hasebe, Ndicka, Knauff, Rode, Sow, Jakic, Lindstrom, Kamada, Muani
Tottenham XI: Lloris, Romero, Dier, Lenglet, Royal, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic, Richarlison, Kane, Son
Liverpool vs Rangers team changes
Jurgen Klopp makes three changes to the Liverpool side that drew with Brighton on Saturday. Roberto Firmino, Fabinho and Fabio Carvalho drop out with Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz brought into the side.
Rangers make four changes to the side that beat Hearts at the weekend in the Scottish Premiership.
Antonio Čolak drops to the bench Alfredo with Morelos preferred to start in attack. 18-year-old defender Leon King and midfielders Steven Davis and Malik Tillman also come into the line-up.
Liverpool vs Rangers line-ups
Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Thiago Alcantara, Henderson, Salah, Jota, Diaz, Nunez
Rangers XI: McGregor, Tavernier, King, Goldson, Davies, Barisic, Lundstram, Tillman, S. Davis, Kent, Morelos
Liverpool ‘calm’ over Darwin Nunez struggle to settle into underperforming team
Jurgen Klopp insisted Liverpool are remaining calm about Darwin Nunez’s slow start to life at Anfield after leaving their record signing on the bench for their last three games.
The German and his multilingual assistant Pep Lijnders had a long conversation with the Uruguayan, who could cost Liverpool up to £85 million, to urge him not to worry about his struggles to get into the team.
Nunez scored on his first two appearances after his summer move from Benfica but has only started one of Liverpool’s last seven meetings as he served a three-match ban for his red card against Crystal Palace, began but missed chances in the 0-0 draw against Everton and was a substitute against Napoli, Ajax and Brighton.
Liverpool ‘calm’ as Nunez struggles to settle into underperforming team
The £85m summer signing has failed to show form as yet - though the Reds as a whole have been well below-par this season
Liverpool’s home record
Liverpool have won 13 of their last 15 home Champions League group stage matches (one draw, one defeat) and have scored 36 goals during that run.
Their only defeat was against Atalanta in November 2020.
Liverpool must fight to rediscover form with ‘pretty much everything’ in need of improvement
The most infamous tweet in Manchester United history stemmed from the club’s official account and read: “David Moyes says [the team] must improve in a number of areas, including passing, creating chances and defending.”
Nine years on, Jurgen Klopp produced his own version of it, albeit inserting the punchline that everything is wrong, rather than leaving others to supply it. “We have to improve, we have to play consistently better, defend better, attack better: pretty much everything,” the Liverpool manager said.
If it is not the kind of verdict a coach with six defeats in his previous 82 games usually delivers, nor was it the sort of analysis most produced a few months ago, when the quadruple beckoned for Liverpool.
And if that illustrates how quickly things have unravelled at Anfield, if the statistics reflect the sustained spell of superb form that preceded the current problems, it leaves Liverpool searching for answers. Is this malaise or decline, a blip or something bigger?
Liverpool must fight for form with ‘pretty much everything’ in need of improvement
The Reds have been well off the pace domestically but can push themselves into the top two of their Champions League group if they beat Rangers in back-to-back meetings
Rangers in England
Rangers did not score in their last two Uefa games in England (a 3-0 loss and a 0-0 draw against Manchester United), but won 2-1 in the game before that – 2-1 in 1992 against a Leeds line-up featuring Eric Cantona.
The Daily Record called it Rangers’ “best performance in 20 years”.
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