SAN SIRO, MILAN // It was a happy birthday for Liverpool head coach Arne Slot in the end as his side came from a goal down to beat AC Milan in the Champions League — convincingly recovering from a dismal defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Christian Pulisic netted the opener inside three minutes as AC Milan took an early lead. Kostas Tsimikas lost out when Mike Maignan played a long pass before Alvaro Morata hooked the ball beyond Virgil van Dijk . Pulisic's angle was tight but his shot found the far corner and beat Alisson Becker .
But Liverpool responded very well. Ibrahima Konate headed home the equalizer from six yards, set up by Trent Alexander-Arnold , before Tsimikas set up Van Dijk for a similar goal from the opposite side. By half-time, the Reds were in front and in control.
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After good work from the impressive Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai put the result beyond doubt with a third on the night for the visitor. Here are the five things Liverpool.com spotted as the game unfolded.
Arne Slot rotates the team
It was inevitable that there would be some changes to the starting team because there are now going to be two games per week. In the end, there were only two: Tsimikas for Andy Robertson and Cody Gakpo for Luis Diaz . The Greek struggled a bit while the Dutch forward was excellent.
"It is managing minutes," Slot explained before kick-off while speaking to Amazon Prime. "The other ones do really well and I have more than 11 good players, so today it is Cody and Kostas."
The Reds are likely to make a couple more alterations for the visit of Bournemouth which comes on Saturday. As much as Slot likes to maintain consistency in his line-up, keeping everyone fresh will be one of his biggest tasks.
Center-backs towering above
With Liverpool one down early on, you would expect the emphasis to be on the attacking players to find the goals to turn things around. And with the poor showing against Nottingham Forest still fresh, there was even more pressure on the likes of Mohamed Salah to find the back of the net.
While the Egyptian hit the bar twice and came close on a couple more occasions too, it was Konate and then Van Dijk who actually beat Maignon. The two Liverpool goals in the first period were easy and AC Milan boss Paulo Fonseca will be fuming at how simple it was for the visitor, but the Reds were dominant and deserving. This was the reaction required from the weekend.
New Champions League format still to ignite
This felt like a massive victory for Liverpool in arguably its trickiest away game in the league phase of the new-look Champions League but the truth is we won't know just how important it was until later down the line. Finishing inside the top eight spots will be vital for avoiding the extra fixtures that the play-off round brings but how many points are needed to secure that remains to be seen.
All Liverpool can do is ensure that it picks up as many points as possible before the turn of the year. If it could get itself into a position to be nearly qualified before the January games against PSV and Lille, that would be huge. We don't yet know just how likely that will be — with this first year something of a trial run.
New midfield question emerges
It was always likely that AC Milan would come out a lot more than Nottingham Forest did against Liverpool but that still presents a new question about Slot's midfield department. It was not sensational here but did the job adequately enough. The blend of work ethic and technical skill is perfect for more expansive opponents.
If Bournemouth does what Nuno Espirito Santo's team did last Saturday when next weekend comes around, that will pose a different challenge. Harvey Elliott was a big miss a few days ago but was much less likely to be here.
What comes next will determine whether or not there is a problem to address against weaker opposition or whether the Nottingham Forest performance was an isolated one-off. Slot will hope for the latter.
As for Szoboszlai in particular — the most attacking player in Slot's midfield — the head coach demanded more goals from him in the build-up to the game. Instantly, he delivered, putting the ball in the back of the net to seal the result. It was only one goal but it was the perfect response to Slot's request.
Back to winning ways
After the disappointment of last weekend, Liverpool needed this game to go well to lift spirits. It wasn't the best performance that the Reds will put in this season but it was cool, calm and composed. You can't ask for much more away from home in Europe and that is exactly what Slot is aiming for in every match.
The Liverpool boss will be more than happy with the showing that his players put in on his 46th birthday. It was a slow start and conceding first wasn't ideal but Liverpool ultimately did enough to win the points. The win should certainly lift the mood and answer a couple of questions.
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