Liverpool beat Leeds 3-0 at Elland Road in a game that was overshadowed by a bad injury to Reds teenager Harvey Elliott.
Elliott, 18, went down after a challenge by Leeds midfielder Pascal Struijk in the 60th minute.
His Liverpool teammate Mohammed Salah immediately realised the severity of the injury, signalling with great panic for the medical team to come on.
Once they did, Salah walked off, unable to hide his grief. The Liverpool bench were also visibly shaking, the incident occurring in front of them.
In a positive sign, Elliott, who has started Liverpool’s last three games after spending last year on loan at Blackburn, reciprocated the fans’ applause as he was being stretchered off. He also posted a message on Instagram shortly after the incident thanking fans for their messages of support.
Still, it was a great shame, Elliott having started this season in great form but now facing an extended break on the sidelines.
Struijk, who actually won the ball with the challenge and had no intentions of hurting Elliott, was sent off.
The injury marred a magnificent game of football, Liverpool dominating for much of it.
Leeds should actually have gone 1-0 up, Spain international Rodrigo shooting straight at Alisson in the fifth minute when he had both corners of the goal to aim at.
Thereafter, Liverpool bossed proceedings, Salah opening the scoring in the 20th minute with his 100th Premier League goal, converting from inside the six-yard box from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross.
Despite having 12 efforts on goal, Jurgen Klopp’s men somehow failed to add to their lead in the first half, Mane missing the best of their chances after skying Jota’s pull-back. The excellent Thiago also had a header correctly ruled out for offside.
The Reds did find a breakthrough five minutes into the second half, however, Fabinho poking past Isllan Meslier at the second attempt after Virgil van Dijk’s knockdown.
With Struijk’s red card coming 10 minutes later, the game was then effectively over as a contest.
Mane did add a third in added time with a good turn and finish, though, finally scoring with his tenth attempt on goal.
Despite the wayward finishing, the manner of the performance will have pleased Jurgen Klopp.
Leeds, meanwhile, have started this season slowly, picking up just two points from their first four games. Marcelo Bielsa’s men created chances against their opponents but were exposed defensively far too often.
Featured image by Mtaylor848 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0; no changes made.
