LONDON — Mohamed Salah achieved a unique milestone with his goal for Liverpool against Bournemouth, as he climbed up the charts in the club’s all-time top goal scorers’ list.
Salah overtakes Steven Gerrard to become Liverpool‘s 5th all-time highest goalscorer. The Egyptian found the initially missed from 12 yards but slotted in the rebound after Neto saved his penalty.
Liverpool overcame Bournemouth 3-1 in the English Premier League with Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota also appearing on the scoresheet. The Reds were on the back of a 1-1 draw against Chelsea and were in need of a win to kickstart their season.
Salah’s will hope to keep banging in the goals to reach and possibly overtake fourth-placed Billy Liddel, who currently has 228 goals.
Jurgen Klopp’s men led nine minutes before half-time, but Salah needed a second opportunity to tap in the rebound after Neto had saved his penalty.
The Egyptian has now failed to score three of his last five penalties, including one when Bournemouth won the last meeting between the sides in March.
However, Salah’s strike was enough to edge him ahead of Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s fifth highest scorer of all time on 187.
“Horrible start to the game. I thought the first goal we conceded was offside and a wake up call. OK, you take that. And then a minute later we conceded a regular goal which is not cool,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“We needed a few minutes to shake it off and then we were really good. The second half it changed completely because all of a sudden we were 10 men but scored the third goal, which is very important in this moment.
“It gave us energy. It is second match day and tough. It was surprisingly hot today, so it was intense for the boys but we fought through that and didn’t concede anymore, got the three points and that is all that I need.”
Klopp added that Liverpool had responded better to conceding a goal against Bournemouth than they did in their season-opening 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
“When we found our way into the game we played in areas we had to play and we were calm, which is good,” Klopp said.
“I said after Chelsea, after we conceded I saw us getting into a rush. I did not see that today. We found our way back into it and played the game we wanted.”
Liverpool’s win came at a price, with Alexis Mac Allister being shown a red card for a high tackle in the 58th minute, meaning the Argentine midfielder will serve a three-match ban.
Mac Allister’s sending off seemed a harsh decision, with Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola saying after the match that it “did not look like a red card”.
Klopp agreed with his counterpart, saying: “I understand 100% how it looks for a ref in that moment but when you see it back, it is the inside of the foot and no power behind it.
Tottenham beats Man Utd 2-0
Perhaps Tottenham Hotspur will be just fine without Harry Kane. Pape Matar Sarr scored early in the second half and Lisandro Martinez added an own goal to give Tottenham a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the English Premier League on Saturday.
It was just the kind of result manager Ange Postecoglou needed in his first home game to build a sense of belief as the club – and the fan base – move on from the departure of Kane to Bayern Munich.
After a lively first half, Sarr put Spurs ahead in the 49th minute after Dejan Kulusevski made a good run down the right and broke into the area. The Swede´s low cross was deflected into the path of Sarr, who slotted it into the roof of the net from close range.
The game had been wide open in the first half and the goal turned up the tempo even more, with chances flowing at both ends.
United nearly responded immediately; Antony hit the post with a left-footed curler at the other end and Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario made a diving one-handed save to keep out a header from Casemiro after a free kick into the box in the 56th.
The goalkeeper made another save to deny Bruno Fernandes, and Son Heung-min had a shot blocked at the other end after a well-worked passing move by Spurs.
After the tempo settled down a bit, Spurs doubled their lead with a bit of fortune.
Substitute Ivan Perisic sent a low cross into the area toward Ben Davies, who couldn’t make clean contact as he tried to send a shot on goal, but the ball instead deflected in off Martinez.
Man City claims win over Newcastle
A superb strike from midfielder Julian Alvarez gave Manchester City a 1-0 win over Newcastle United in their first home game of the new Premier League season, capping off an evening of celebration of last season’s treble at the Etihad Stadium.
The Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup trophies were all displayed on the pitch before kickoff, after which City comprehensively outplayed Eddie Howe’s Newcastle, whose own title aspirations were dealt an early season setback.
Pep Guardiola picked Phil Foden to take the place of the injured Kevin De Bruyne, and the 23-year-old England international responded with a man-of-the-match performance as he shouldered the burden of creating chances for the champions.
After an opening half-hour in which the home side dominated possession, Alvarez broke the deadlock in the 31st minute when Foden picked him out on the edge of the box, and the Argentine whipped a powerful shot across Nick Pope and into the net.
Newcastle upped the tempo in the second half but it was City who had the better chances, though striker Erling Haaland seemed out of sorts as he failed to score despite a number of opportunities created for him by Foden.
The visitors finally managed to start exerting some pressure in the last 15 minutes, but despite some better attacking play they still struggled to create shots on goal.
Substitute Callum Wilson wasted a glorious counter-attack when he picked Rodri’s pocket in midfield but he could not fashion an angle for a run on goal, and when the shot eventually came for Harvey Barnes, it did little to trouble Ederson.
City almost grabbed a second when Foden flashed a late shot across goal as his side held on for back to back league wins to start their season and stretch their record to 17 home victories in all competitions.
“I enjoy playing in there, hopefully in the future I can pick up more games there and show people what I can do,” Foden said of his playmaker role in a TV interview.
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