Ryan Gravenberch’s “obvious talent” was praised by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after the midfielder scored the club’s first goal and set up the 2-0 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise.
The Netherlands international, a £34 million summer acquisition from Bayern Munich, made just his third start of the year and, after excelling in his maiden European outing, put on another strong all-around display that was finished with what he called “the easiest goal of my career.”
A minute before halftime, Gravenberch took advantage of a mistake by Anthony Moris, the goalkeeper, who mishandled Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot and gave the 21-year-old a tap-in.
Diogo Jota’s goal in extra time at the end of the second half gave Liverpool a victory in the Europa League for the second straight season. It was an important goal because Liverpool had missed several chances before that, despite the fact that they were rarely in danger.
A guy who had to be progressively acclimated to English football due to arriving after the transfer deadline has made three Premier League substitute appearances. “It is really obvious how good he is, the talent he is,” stated Klopp of the man.
“It’s great to see that he is enjoying himself and that his confidence has returned.
“We thought he might be able to play 90 (minutes), and we wanted to give him 90, but we saw he dropped a bit, so that’s why we took him off.”
Jota scored his fourth goal of the year in response to his sending off on Saturday for receiving two yellow cards, which results in a suspension for Sunday’s trip to Brighton.
“What should he do about it? It would be difficult, I knew that. It’s been a while since that (the contentious loss to Tottenham), and Diogo and I are both past it. We are not youngsters.
“From a focus perspective, it wasn’t difficult to concentrate on the game; but, it was difficult to maintain concentration while playing the game because that’s how it appeared at first.
“We became a little slow, which I didn’t particularly like, but it had nothing to do with the previous game or the previous week. In any case, that is the challenge in football.
With two wins in a row, Liverpool is two points ahead of Toulouse at the top of Group E. If they defeat Toulouse in three weeks, they will be in position to go to the knockout stages.
But given that they missed several opportunities and then began to lose their focus in the second half, it was far from the kind of loose performance the team has displayed this season.
“I enjoyed the beginning and the end. The objectives and chances we produced. We lost rhythm after 25 minutes, which bothered me, Klopp continued.
“Keeping rhythm in games like these is incredibly difficult, but it’s crucial. Although we should have scored sooner, we instead scored in stoppage time.
“If we want to win contests, we should take advantage of our opportunities more frequently, but I’m not upset or worried about it; it just is what it is. We are aware that we must improve.
We achieved the desired outcome with a mature professional performance, but we are aware that we can improve.
Alexander Blessin, the coach of the Union, was frustrated that despite keeping their opponents at bay for practically the entire first half, his team did not acquire greater confidence.
“In the end, I’m proud of the team, but we saw the strength of Liverpool,” he remarked.
“I felt like the game changed (after Liverpool’s opening goal), and in those situations, you need things to go your way.”