Liverpool rallies to beat Bournemouth on a night of tribute to Diogo Jota

Liverpool beat Bournemouth 4-2 on an emotional Anfield night, with Ekitike, Gakpo, Chiesa and Salah scoring in their Premier League opener.

Liverpool's Mohammed Salah reenacts Diogo Jota's iconic celebration after rounding off scoring on Friday night against Bournemouth. Liverpool won the game 4-2. (Photo credit: GOAL)

It was an emotional night at Anfield; the loss of Diogo Jota hit home, and this was evident in the atmosphere as the Kops started their title defence against Bournemouth.

It was strange for the Cherries to see Milos Kerkez at the other end, but it didn’t look like they were in crisis as they took the game to their hosts, fighting for every duel and winning second balls, but it was the champions who drew the first blood.

Having scored on his competitive debut last week, Hugo Ekitike announced himself to the Anfield crowd with a neatly taken goal after some defensive mix-up. Liverpool’s lead brought out the firepower in their visitors as they grew into the game and earned the right to play under the Anfield light.

Cody Gakpo made it 2-0 in the second half, but the tides changed, and Bournemouth went on the ascendancy. Antoine Semenyo scored a beauty to halve the deficit before being involved in a racist situation allegedly with a man in a wheelchair who was ushered out of the stadium immediately.

Semenyo raced through the Liverpool defence from his own half before slotting home with Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahim Konate both looking for what was not lost. It felt like the champions would drop points at home on day one until help came from an unlikely source.

Substitute Federico Chiesa scored Liverpool’s third goal with just eight minutes left on the clock, and you know who, Mohammed Salah, curled in their fourth to continue his run of opening-day goals, which now goes into his ninth season at Liverpool.

Arne Slot has said he expects Chiesa to stay at the club despite the player actively looking for solutions in Italy, having missed most of last season due to injury and not being part of Liverpool’s pre-season tour to Asia.

"Unfortunately for him, he missed out on our Asian tour as well, so he missed quite a lot. When we needed Federico at 2-2, we brought him in, and he delivered, and that's always positive for your future at the club.

"After the fans sang for him so many times during the game and last season as well, I think it's nice for him to give them something in return, and that's definitely what he did today."

Liverpool’s next game is away to Newcastle at Anfield. Will Alexander Isak be a Liverpool player by then?