Liverpool show White and Arsenal up as £70m pair make the most of post-Klopp clean slate

Arne Slot got things back on track as Liverpool secured their greatest ever comeback win against AC Milan, showing Ben White and Arsenal up in the process.

How fitting that at the home of The Tulips, Liverpool’s own Dutch pairing finally started to blossom into Champions League-level talents. Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo might not fully emulate the brilliance of Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten but they were too much for AC Milan to handle at San Siro.

Neither had really found their place at Liverpool before this season. That was frustratingly all too literal for Gakpo, whose intermittent deployment in the centre rarely seemed to properly maximise his skillset. Gravenberch has already discussed the differences between Arne Slot and his predecessor and while the Netherlands pair will certainly not have celebrated Jurgen Klopp’s departure, they will have enjoyed wiping their slates clean this summer.

Liverpool’s first Klopp-less Champions League game since Lazar Markovic was sent off in a 1-1 Anfield draw with Basel in December 2014 offered compelling proof that both players can grasp those opportunities.

Gravenberch arguably has already; the embarrassment of the failed Martin Zubimendi chase seems awfully long ago. But Gakpo’s first Slot start was an eye-opener.

One of two changes to the starting line-up alongside Kostas Tsimikas on a transformed left wing, Gakpo was excellent. The ‘slow motion’ play Jamie Carragher lamented during last season’s FA Cup madness against Manchester United was put on fast forward and Davide Calabria could not cope.

That battle led to the equaliser. After Christian Pulisic continued the theme of former Chelsea forwards putting their new teams ahead against Liverpool when Tsimikas decided that defending his side of the pitch was for nerds, the visitors responded well. A period of sustained pressure ended in a Trent Alexander-Arnold switch which Gakpo cleverly used to purchase a free-kick and yellow card for an all too willing Calabria.

In what can only be described as a massive dig at Ben White, Liverpool eschewed the set-piece dark arts for a more rudimentary approach: Alexander-Arnold delivered the ball, Ibrahima Konate jumped higher than everyone to a quite laughable extent, and the Reds were level.

Milan’s marking would have had Cristian Romero shaking his head and telling people to stay switched on. From a Tsimikas corner, Van Dijk dropped his shoulder and bamboozled Tijjani Reijnders, the AC Milan midfielder desperate to retrieve it for his international captain rather than actually attempting to track his man. Van Dijk was surrounded by seven opposition players but benefited slightly from being the only one who bothered to jump. Nicolas Jover in the mud.

It did not help the red-nosed Reijnders that Mike Maignan decided to push his teammate away at the least opportune moment. The Milan keeper might have been trying to regain his balance, to be fair, playing well over half an hour with an injury that the hosts obviously waited until six minutes into the second half to address by bringing on Lorenzo Torriani for his senior debut.

Perhaps Liverpool preyed on that situation; Maignan certainly looked far from comfortable defending those high balls from which Slot’s side cashed in. And fair play to them for being ruthless enough to capitalise on some truly bizarre management.

But if the Reds needed something prettier to rubberstamp their victory – and Alisson’s typical Liverpool cryarsing after a disappointing defeats suggested as such – it came shortly after the hour to settle a result which had long been headed only one way.

This was Gakpo and Gravenberch’s showpiece. The latter made six interceptions and the former completed four dribbles. Gravenberch read a Strahinja Pavlovic pass and returned it between the lines with precision to Dominik Szoboszlai, who was on hand to finish when Gakpo further exposed the young defender with a wonderful run, stutter and burst before crossing to the three teammates waiting in the middle.

It was almost certainly the greatest comeback Liverpool have ever experienced against AC Milan, inspired by a couple of shots of Dutch courage.

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