LIVERPOOL: Anfield rocked and rolled to the return of fans for the Champions League as Liverpool outpaced Milan 3-2 after a high-speed, topsy-turvy duel.

Liverpool threatened to run away with the tie in the first half before Milan struck twice yet conceded that shock lead to a typical Liverpool recovery in the second half.

Manager Jurgen Klopp had been under no illusions about the challenge provided by a Group B featuring not only old rivals Milan but Atletico Madrid and Porto.

He had warned: “This is the strongest group since I’ve been at Liverpool. It will be exciting from the first to the last second. I can’t see any kind of early decisions made in this group and that keeps us on our toes.” Liverpool are used to that. The sixth and final group match was decisive in three of the four seasons they have reached the knockout stages under Klopp.

Oddly, the two finals of 2005 and 2007 – with trophy honours shared – were the only previous occasions on which Liverpool and Milan had met in Europe.

Liverpool were without teenaged midfielder Harvey Elliott. He underwent surgery in London on Tuesday on the dislocated ankle he suffered against Leeds United on Sunday. Klopp hopes he will be fit to return before the end of the season.

Klopp’s confidence was clear from his decision to start with Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane among the substitutes. They were not immediately missed as Liverpool wasted no time pressing for goals. They played excellent, high-paced attacking football and fired in 16 shots in the first 20 minutes with five corners. Milan struggled to cope.

Within nine minutes Liverpool were ahead. Trent Alexander-Arnold stormed in from the right to open the scoring with the aid of a deflection off Fikayo Tomori, the former Chelsea defender.

Penalty miss

It should have been 2-0 minutes later after Liverpool were awarded a penalty when Ismael Bennacer’s arm deflected a shot from Andy Robertson. However Mo Salah, making his 100th appearance at Anfield, missed his first spot-kick in almost four years as keeper Mike Maignan dived the right way.

Maignan made two more saves from Salah as Liverpool exerted more pressure on a Milan defence bearing absolutely no resemblance to the great old days of Baresi, Maldini & Co.

Klopp would have been furious as his men compounded their failure to add to their single goal by scoring twice in 90 seconds to lead 2-1 at halftime. First Ante Rebic sidefooted past Alisson from close range then Brahim Diaz scored after Robertson blocked a shot from Leao.

Liverpool were grateful to the officials two minutes into the second half when an offside decision denied Simon Kjaer what would have been a third Milan goal after  left-wing corner.

The Reds capitalised by running down to the other end and equalising. Salah made amends for his penalty miss by converting a chip over the defence from Divock Origi, deputising for injured Roberto Firmino.

Liverpool regained the lead in the 69th minute. A shot from Diogo Jota was deflected over the bar for a corner which Milan only half-cleared to allow Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson to thump home his first Champions League goal for seven years. Finally, it proved decisive.

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