Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Kop star blasts his way back onto Euro stage RATINGS
MIDFIELDER Alex Oxladechamberlain won his place in Kop hearts with his strike against Manchester City in Liverpool’s run to the 2018 Champions League final.
In the next round of the competition, a semi-final against Roma, he suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for a year.
So it seemed fitting that the moment to show he is primed to return to his best was back on the European stage.
Oxlade-chamberlain scored his first goal since that one against City in April 2018 on his first Champions League start since being taken off on a stretcher with knee ligament damage two weeks later.
And his second last night was simply sensational, worthy of winning any game, before Sadio Mane and Mo Salah ensured the three points.
This was an audition of sorts for Oxlade-chamberlain and Naby Keita. They needed to impress to displace either Jordan Henderson or Gini Wijnaldum in Jurgen Klopp’s preferred midfield three alongside Fabinho. A brief cameo appearance against Manchester United gave hope £52.7million Keita may be ready to really show his worth in a Liverpool shirt.
His debut season at Anfield was plagued by injuries, dampening the excitement of his arrival last summer.
Klopp has remained confident Keita will find form. But it was Oxlade-chamberlain who grabbed his chance to steal the show.
Fabinho was the only one of the midfield three who started Sunday’s 1-1 draw with United to remain in the Reds line-up against Genk. It was his pass which set up Oxladechamberlain, whose shot found the bottom corner via a slight deflection after 110 seconds.
That knee injury meant he could not kick on after a fine start to life at Anfield. But this was him heading back to his best form.
Genk has been waiting to welcome European champions, but were also out for a scalp.
And the Belgian side had two chances soon after Liverpool’s opener, but Ally Samatta wasted the first and Alisson then saved Paul Onuachu’s low strike.
Samatta had the ball in the net but after a long wait for a VAR decision, his effort was ruled out offside in the build-up.
Liverpool were looking to get just their second group win away from Anfield in this competition under Klopp.
He had warned his side before the game that their form on the road was damaging their chance of progressing.
The game seemed in the balance until Firmino’s pass back into the path of Oxladechamberlain was met with the outside of the midfielder’s right boot and clipped the underside of the bar on the way into the net.
Salah had looked sluggish throughout, but with 13 minutes to go his delightful pass allowed Mane to clip one over Genk keeper Gaetan Coucke.
The Egypt international got his goal when he turned his marker and slotted home.
Substitute Stephen Odey did pull one back for the hosts, but it was no more than a consolation goal.
The Reds had heeded Klopp’s warning that they had to start winning away games in the group stages after just one in their previous 10 on the road.