LIVERPOOL, England: Liverpool talisman Mo Salah and substitute Federico Chiesa struck late goals as the Premier League champions began the defense of their title by beating Bournemouth 4-2 in a thriller on the opening night of the season at Anfield on Friday.
On a bittersweet evening charged with emotion after the July death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, newcomer Hugo Ekitike bagged a goal on his league debut to put the hosts ahead after 37 minutes and Cody Gakpo doubled the lead in the 49th.
But Antoine Semenyo, who was the target of racist abuse in the first half that led to a pause in the game, pulled one back for the visitors in the 64th minute and completed a double 12 minutes later to rock Liverpool and shock the home fans.
However, Chiesa came off the bench and sent the Anfield faithful away happy with an 88th-minute strike after goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic swatted away a ball into the box by Salah, who scored himself deep into added time to wrap up the three points.
“Fantastic,” Liverpool boss Arne Slot said of Italian forward Chiesa’s goal. “He came in in the end because we needed a goal. For him then to score in such a moment is special.
“It’s even more special because the fans have supported him. It’s nice he gives them something in return with a great goal.”
With Liverpool ahead again, Salah chased the ball past the defense before cutting inside and firing into the bottom corner with a 94th-minute goal that put the Egyptian joint-fourth with Andy Cole on the all-time Premier League scorers’ list with 187.
An emotional Salah pointed to the heavens and flapped two hands to mimic Jota’s shark goal celebration.
He headed for The Kop stand after the final whistle, and wiped away tears while applauding the fans who were singing their Jota song to the tune of “Bad Moon Rising.”
Minute’s silence
The night started with an emotional minute’s silence for Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who died in a car crash. Fans fought back tears as they sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Ekitike, who has joined from Eintracht Frankfurt, was the most impressive of Slot’s close-season signings in a spending spree topping 300 million pounds ($406.53 million).
“Obviously I think it was a good performance, I could do better,” said the French forward — who held up two fingers in one hand, and made a zero with the other in a tribute to Liverpool’s Jota, who wore number 20 — after his goal.
“But the most important thing was winning, the mentality we showed. Obviously we wanted to win tonight for the people who came and for Diogo,” added the 23-year-old forward.
The game was halted for several minutes after Bournemouth’s Ghana international Semenyo reported the racist abuse.
“It’s totally unacceptable,” Bournemouth captain Adam Smith said. “Kind of in shock to be honest that it happened. In this day and age it shouldn’t be happening.
“I don’t know how Ant’s played on to be honest and come up with those goals ... Something has to be done. We’ll support him in there and hopefully he’ll be ok.”
