Salah picks up where he left off at Anfield

HATS OFF: Salah on his way to treble

IT WON’T be much comfort to Marcelo Bielsa but Anfield has always been a graveyard for Leeds.

Even Don Revie only enjoyed two league victories on Liverpool soil – and that was when the Yorkshire club were in their glorious pomp.

Leeds boss Bielsa will have travelled back east along the M62 knowing how the Don himself must have felt.

This was a cruel defeat at the hands of the champions – and Bielsa urged his men to learn from the lesson.

Mo Salah scored a hattrick – two of them from the penalty spot – and Virgil van Dijk was also on target for the Reds.

Three times the visitors equalised through Jack Harrison, Patrick Bamford and Mateusz Klich.

But Bielsa’s men could not find another goal to take the point their performance deserved after his club’s new record signing Rodrigo had stupidly tripped Fabinho to enable Salah to win it from the spot at the death.

Bielsa said: “You can never be happy in defeat and this could have been avoided.

“We looked to play in the style we want but at times we struggled. But at this level, errors equal goals.”

One thing for certain is that the way Bielsa’s men went toe-to-toe with the best side in the country in their first Premier League game for 16 years would have been shocking to a master pragmatist like Revie.

The spirit,

EGYPTIAN KING: Mo Salah however, was vintage Leeds. The first half was a five-goal slugfest. Bielsa must have felt like kicking the bucket he sat on after just 236 seconds.

That was all it took for the champions to go in front through Salah’s first penalty after Robin Koch’s handball.

Leeds levelled in the 12th minute. Kalvin Phillips found Harrison wide on the left with a raking pass and the on-loan winger from Manchester City tore inside Trent AlexanderArnold and Joe Gomez before burying a low shot.

Liverpool went ahead again eight minutes later when Andy Robertson’s corner found Van Dijk leaping alone to head home.

But Leeds hit back as Van Dijk took a liberty on the halfhour by trying to nonchalantly flick Harrison’s long ball clear to Robertson without sensing Bamford, who lifted a clever finish over Alisson.

Yet within three minutes, Leeds paid again for their naivety. Salah fired a violent half-volley into the net.

Klopp sent on Fabinho for Naby Kieta to offer more midfield protection but the visitors drew level again in the 66th minute.

Helder Costa’s ball was taken down by Klich and he sent a fizzing shot into the far corner.

Bielsa brought on Rodrigo but his brave bid to win the game ended up losing it.

Klopp said: “Offensively it was good and defensively I am sure we will improve but Leeds have got good quality.”