Liverpool suffered an all too familiar case of deja vu in tonight’s Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid at Anfield.
The visitors broke the deadlock in the 17th minute through a rather unsurprising source, with Marcos Llorente scoring at this stadium for the fifth time since March 2020.
The Spaniard burst beyond Milos Kerkez into a gap in the Reds defence to get on the end of a through ball from Julian Alvarez and then finish one-on-one past Alisson Becker from the edge of the penalty area.
Llorente breaks the deadlock! 🔥
That’s now FIVE Champions League goals for the Atletico man against Liverpool at Anfield 🤯
📺 Watch live on TNT Sports & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/Rxp4zurfpc
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 9, 2026
Kerkez blamed for Llorente’s latest Anfield goal
As Llorente celebrated yet another goal at Anfield, the inquest begun from a Liverpool perspective, and one reporter pointed the finger of blame at the Hungarian left-back.
Aadam Patel of BBC Sport observed: ‘Marcos Llorente actually named his dog Anfield. It’s a good finish from the Spaniard but the defending is so poor from Milos Kerkez. He has to track his man better.’
Speaking on co-commentary for TNT Sports, Ally McCoist felt that the Reds were culpable as a unit for allowing Atletico’s number 14 far too much room in which to score, saying: “I’m staggered at the space they’re allowed in the middle of the park. It’s absolutely amazing.”
Liverpool defence as a whole caught napping for Llorente goal
As Alvarez surged towards the halfway line, Liverpool appeared to hold a good defensive shape, but a lack of pressure on the Argentine in midfield allowed him to pick his pass to Llorente.
The Atletico wing-back was much more alert than Kerkez, who was caught flat-footed as the Reds’ tormentor in chief burst from behind him and was played through on goal, unsurprisingly making no mistake thereafter.
It was a costly lapse in concentration from the 22-year-old, although the defence as a whole left far too much space for Llorente to get his shot away and score past Alisson.
Liverpool managed to restore parity shortly before the interval thanks to a coolly-taken equaliser from Dominik Szoboszlai, although the manner of the opening goal for the visitors will have stung Andoni Iraola.