Beth LindopSep 17, 2025, 06:54 PM ET
- Based in Liverpool, Beth Lindop is ESPN's Liverpool correspondent and also covers the WSL and UWCL.
LIVERPOOL, England -- With a beaming smile, Mohamed Salah assumed his place on the Anfield advertising hoardings and soaked up the applause from his adoring public.
The 33-year-old had just put Liverpool 2-0 up in their UEFA Champions League opener against Atletico Madrid, having provided Andy Robertson with the assist for his team's first goal only minutes earlier. On a night when British-record signing Alexander Isak made his Liverpool debut, the Reds' Egyptian King showed he has no intention of abdicating his throne just yet, as the hosts won 3-2.
Against Atletico, Salah became the only player in Champions League history to both score and assist inside the opening six minutes of a match for an English club. It is perhaps not the most noteworthy statistic in the forward's ever-growing catalogue, but it is one that once again underlines his enduring brilliance.
By the time the final whistle blew, it was another member of Liverpool's old guard -- captain Virgil van Dijk -- who had made himself the hero, scoring the winning goal in the 92nd minute after Atletico had drawn level through two goals from Marcos Llorente. The Dutchman's thumping header in front of the Kop continued Liverpool's staggering trend of claiming miraculous late victories, with all five of their competitive games this season having come with game winners in the final 10 minutes.
For Isak, who watched the late celebrations from the bench after being substituted in the 58th minute, there could not have been a more fitting welcome to Anfield. All of the headlines in the build-up to the game had centered around whether the Sweden striker would be fit to feature, having been omitted from the matchday squad against Burnley on Sunday.
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There was plenty of excitement, then, when the team sheets were circulated and it was confirmed Isak had been handed a start against Diego Simeone's side. While the 25-year-old didn't manage to find the back of the net, there were enough flashes of quality to get the crowd excited about the club's new £125 million man before he was replaced by fellow summer signing Hugo Ekitike shortly before the hour mark.
Isak had barely had time to take in his new surroundings before Liverpool scored their opener on Wednesday night, with Salah's shot deflecting off Robertson and past Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak inside four minutes. It was a joyous moment for the Scotland captain, who had been linked with a move from Liverpool to Atletico this summer after the arrival of Hungary left back Milos Kerkez. Salah then doubled the hosts' advantage less than two minutes later, shimmying past three defenders and slotting coolly past Oblak to hand Liverpool their earliest ever two-goal lead in a Champions League game.
Having enjoyed a stellar individual season last term -- winning both the Premier League Player of the Season and PFA Player of the Year awards -- Salah hasn't quite been able to recapture his blistering form in the early weeks of the new season. The forward has sometimes been on the periphery of games and is still establishing relationships with his new teammates after an extensive summer overhaul of the squad on Merseyside.
But after scoring the winning penalty against Burnley on Sunday, Salah continued to respond to his critics with an excellent individual display that offered a reminder of his continued importance to Arne Slot's side. The forward could have added to his tally in the second half when, with the goal at his mercy, he crashed a shot against the post.
It looked like that miss might prove costly for Liverpool when Llorente -- who had halved the deficit shortly before the break -- volleyed past goalkeeper Alisson Becker to draw Atletico level in the 81st minute. For any other team, that may well have proved a fatal blow. But Liverpool's powers of recovery this season have superseded that of any other team in Europe. When Van Dijk's header rippled the back of the Anfield net in stoppage time, it felt inevitable.
"There will be games where we are 2-0 up after six minutes and we create so many chances afterwards that we will score the first and we don't need stoppage time to make a late game winner," Slot said after the match. "There will probably also be games where we need a goal in the last minute and we don't [score]. But I can assure you, even if we don't score it, we will try to push for it. That is the mentality this team has."
Of course, Liverpool's detractors will argue that their trend of winning games late on cannot continue. The law of averages suggests that the Reds' luck will run out at some point and their inability to close out games -- this is the third time this season they have surrendered a 2-0 lead this season -- will prove costly.
For now, though, Slot's winning machine rumbles on. And while Liverpool fans may have to wait for Isak to prove he is worth his significant price tag, teammates Salah and Van Dijk continue to show they are priceless.
