Jurgen Klopp called his Liverpool team “easy to fall in love with” after watching them ease to a 5-1 win over Toulouse that puts them in complete control of their Europa League group.
Ryan Gravenberch was outstanding in midfield, creating one and scoring another, Diogo Jota got his eighth goal in seven in Europe’s second-tier competition, Wataru Endo opened his Liverpool account and there were also goals for Darwin Nunez and substitute Mo Salah.
But the night also demonstrated the depth in Liverpool’s squad as Klopp made eight changes from the 2-0 win over local rivals Everton, handing a full debut to teenager Luke Chambers while Calum Scanlon and James McConnell both made their bows off the bench.
Klopp had to conduct a significant rebuild of his side this summer after last season’s disappointments and the unexpected exits of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, but the early signs are promising with Liverpool three points off the top of the Premier League and firing on all fronts.
“I think it’s really easy to fall in love with this team,” Klopp said. “There is so much excitement in it. We have to make massive steps, we have to grow, we have to do a lot of things but a lot of the signs are really promising.
“How the team interacts with each other is really nice because when you talk about a rebuild of the team it’s all about the things you see on the pitch, obviously, but to see that there has to be a rebuild off the pitch as well and that’s going really well.”
Liverpool were not perfect on the night, allowing Thijs Dallinga to cancel out Jota’s early opener when their high line was exposed quarter of an hour in.
They also needed Trent Alexander-Arnold to block a Gabriel Souza shot on the line after a Caoimhin Kelleher mistake, but Klopp was more than happy with what he saw from a team featuring so many changes as others were kept in reserve for Sunday’s visit of Nottingham Forest.
“The result was good, the performance was good,” he said. “There were a lot of really good individual performances which is nice because it’s important for development. Besides the goal we conceded and the chance we gave them when Trent had his spectacular save around that it was everything we expected.”
The 21-year-old Gravenberch, a summer signing from Bayern Munich, was making back-to-back starts at club level for the first time in 18 months, and delivered a stand-out performance, regularly driving forward from midfield and proving a constant menace to Toulouse.
His goal may have come from what Klopp described as a “slapstick” moment – when Nunez rounded the goalkeeper only to hit his shot against the post with Gravenberch picking up the pieces – his performance certainly merited an appearance on the scoresheet.
“I really like him, as a boy, as a player, it’s really nice to see how much he starts believing in himself again,” Klopp said. “That’s obviously very important for a young player especially. There’s lot to improve on still which is good news because everybody sees the potential he has.”
Nunez left the pitch still kicking himself for his miss, but Klopp was delighted with the Uruguayan.
“(Darwin) played incredible,” he said. “Honestly in this moment I couldn’t care less than he hits the post because everything before was super convincing, how he took the defender away, how he went past the goalie it was a perfect situation.
“He played really good, the goal he scored, the situations he was in. He is in a good moment and for us that’s really important. I’m really pleased for him. Yes it’s a bit of slapstick when the ball doesn’t go in but Ryan puts it in and it’s cool.”
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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