IT’S ALL ABOUT MANE!
DIEGO LLORENTE’S late leveller dented Liverpool’s chances of qualifying for a competition they don’t even want to be in.
Sadio Mane’s first league goal since January had seen the Reds take the lead and, for a short time, return to the top four in the Premier League.
But Llorente’s header in the 87th minute meant the points were shared, leaving Liverpool in sixth place.
Not that any of that might matter, considering the club’s decision to turn its back on the Champions League in favour of joining a European Super League.
These two rivals played out a seven-goal cracker at Anfield on the opening weekend of the season and Leeds stoked the flames for another barnstorming clash by making their feelings known about the new proposals before kick off.
Marcelo Bielsa’s stars ran out to warm up sporting T-shirts proclaiming ‘Football is for the Fans’ and ‘Champions League – Earn It’, in a clear dig at the Reds’ decision to become one of the rebel 12 keen to change the future of the game forever.
Just to ram home the point, Leeds fans gathered outside the ground to give Jurgen Klopp’s team bus a typical Yorkshire welcome, while a plane flew over the stadium deriding the
outrageous breakaway plans. For the first time in history, it felt like every neutral fan in the country was rooting for Leeds.
Klopp pulled no punches with his team selection and dropped Mo Salah to the bench.
Diogo Jota took
Thiago returned at
Nat Phillips.
The problem for the hosts was that once a game of football broke out, Bielsa’s men were distinctly second best for large periods.
The champions could have been ahead inside two minutes when Fabinho’s long ball forward caught out the Leeds defence and fell to Roberto Firmino, but he sliced his his place while the expense of chip wide. Patrick Bamford then wasted a glorious chance to fire the Whites ahead following a defensive mistake from Fabinho.
It proved costly minutes later, when Jota and Trent Alexanderarnold combined to allow Mane to put the Reds ahead with a simple finish on 31 minutes.
Illan Meslier denied Firmino and Jota headed over the top as the visitors continued to dominate in a bid to convince people they still cared about European football’s biggest competition.
In fairness to Klopp’s stars, the crisis that has now ripped the game in two is not their fault.
Alisson then denied Jack Harrison with an outstretched leg, Tyler Roberts missed a great chance, while Bamford rattled the crossbar.
It looked like the Reds had done enough to leave Yorkshire with the points in the bag.
But, with just three minutes left, Llorente rose highest to head home for Leeds and sent most of the country wild.
LEEDS (4-4-1-1): Meslier 7; Ayling 6, Alioski 6 (Klich 79), Llorente 8, Struijk 7; Phillips 7, Harrison 6, Dallas 7, Costa 6 (Poveda 67, 6); Roberts 6 (Hernandez 86); Bamford 6.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 7; Alexander-arnold 8, Kabak 7, Fabinho 6, Robertson 7; Wijnaldum 7, Thiago 7, Milner 7; JOTA 9 (Oxlade-chamberlain 81), Firmino 7, Mane 8 (Salah 71).
REFEREE: Anthony Taylor 7