Roberto Firmino's late header punishes wasteful Spurs and sends Liverpool top
Catch me if you can appeared the message from Roberto Firmino as he sprinted down the pitch to celebrate his 90th-minute winner with the fans in the Kop. No teammate could.
Liverpool issued a similar statement in going top of the Premier League at the expense of a devastated Tottenham. Their chase could be forlorn, too. The sight of the champions three points clear at the summit after all of the trials of the season will be galling for rivals with aspirations of taking Liverpool’s crown. It will be sickening for José Mourinho, irrespective of his attempts to play down Spurs’ title credentials.
Until the final minute he had proven Jürgen Klopp correct – the only reinvention Mourinho has undergone since his final game as Manchester United manager exactly two years ago has been on Instagram.
His team frustrated Liverpool, denied Liverpool and punished Liverpool when Son Heung-min equalised Mohamed Salah’s highly fortunate 11th league goal of the campaign on the counterattack.
They also missed three glaring chances in front of the Kop – two for Steven Bergwijn and one for Harry Kane. But then Firmino attacked Andy Robertson’s corner and powered a header into the top corner of Hugo Lloris’s goal.
Down the pitch he sprinted, and up the table Liverpool went. Klopp celebrated Firmino’s winner passionately too, as well he might after a victory as valuable as it was dramatic. He was forced to field the 19-year-old Rhys Williams in central defence after Joel Matip was ruled out with a back spasm. That made it eight first-team players on the sidelines, even if Mourinho counts Liverpool absentees on one finger.
Curtis Jones, another academy product, impressed once again in midfield. It was entirely fitting that a Liverpool-born No 17 shone on the night the club paid their respects to Gérard Houllier – the former manager who oversaw the rise of Steven Gerrard – who passed away aged 73 this week.
A busy night for Hugo Lloris began when Firmino found himself free inside the area for a Robertson free-kick. The Brazil international headed for the far corner, but the Spurs keeper sprung to his right to collect.
Salah should have done better with his first opportunity, beautifully created by Jordan Henderson’s chip down the left and Robertson bursting clear of Serge Aurier, but shot straight at Lloris.
He did find the net with his next chance, although helped by a dollop of good fortune along the way. Jones burst into the box after exchanging passes with Firmino. His run was halted by
Aurier, but the ball broke for Salah, whose shot deflected off a combination of Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld before looping in via the inside of the far post with Lloris stranded.
The visitors created nothing during the opening third of the contest. They had incentive to do so given the inexperience of Williams but rarely retained possession long enough to get players into the Liverpool half.
And then, out of nowhere, Spurs were level. Giovani Lo Celso crafted the equaliser with a fine run through central midfield and an even better pass to release Son down the left.
Son oozed confidence as he closed in on goal and gave Alisson the eyes before sweeping a convincing finish past the Liverpool keeper. VAR reviewed a possible offside against the South Korea forward but forensics did not kill the joy on this occasion.
Spurs were more enterprising after the restart: 25 seconds had elapsed when Bergwijn broke clear after Williams failed to intercept Alderweireld’s raking ball out of defence. To Mourinho’s obvious disgust, the midfielder sliced his shot across Alisson and wastefully wide. Harry Kane had two attempts from distance, the first forcing Alisson into evasive action after his poor clearance had been intercepted by the England captain, before Bergwijn squandered another opportunity to edge Spurs ahead.
The Netherlands international was through on the left again after Kane and Son headed on a Lloris clearance. This time he connected cleanly, only to see his shot strike the base of the far post and rebound off Fabinho for a corner.
Liverpool’s reprieve was not over. From the resulting delivery by Son, Kane found himself with a clear header on the six-yard line having backed away from Henderson. He completely fluffed it. Kane’s miss would have assumed immediate significance had Liverpool’s clinical touch not deserted them. Firmino and Salah both shot straight at Lloris when well placed, as they had done in the first half, while Mané’s angled drive smacked the crossbar thanks to a slight touch off Aurier.
The pressure built on the Spurs goal and finally paid dividends with Firmino’s unstoppable header. Dier complained he had been shoved in the build-up by Henderson. VAR was unmoved and so, right now, are Liverpool.