Saturday evening saw Anfield host its first game of the 2016/17 season following the opening of its shiny new Main Stand, and the home side marked the occasion by humbling the reigning Premier League champions, Leicester City.
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But Jamie Vardy scored one of the easiest goals of his career, tapping into an empty net after a poor back pass from Lucas.
Adam Lallana produced a crowning performance in Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Leicester City, including scoring the 100th goal of Jurgen Klopp’s reign.
A second defeat in four league matches, having lost just three times last season on the way to their unexpected trophy, was not the preparation they would have wanted heading into a Champions League debut against Club Brugge on Wednesday.
“Liverpool deserved to win”, Ranieri told BT Sport.
But if they needed to come back down to earth with a bump after last season’s Premier League success, then this term is providing them with ample opportunity. “It was a good challenge because we can be really strong, but Leicester have big quality and we had to show we believed in our style” manager Jurgen Klopp said. We have a good team spirit here and it helps in moments like this, where you have been beaten. We were sloppy and they were at their good side. Many experts predict that the score will be 2-1 for Liverpool, which could set the tone for the rest of the season.
“We have to clean our minds”. It’s maybe a little bit too early for them, but not much too early. We weren’t at our best all over the pitch.
“We didn’t really turn up, if you like. We had to bring in Lucas (for Dejan Lovren, who sustained a badly bruised eye in training); a great player but the most hard game for a centre-half, especially when you don’t play it 500 times in a row”.
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It was certainly enjoyed by the club’s principal owner John W Henry, who on his way to speak to the players in the dressing room afterwards, remarked: “That was some football, hey?”
