Liverpool vs Brentford: Mohamed Salah scores as Reds take first half lead

Liverpool –

Liverpool closed the first half of the game against Brentford with a 1-0 advantage. Goal scored Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool, who needed a win to maintain a chance of finishing in the top four, played aggressively from the early minutes. They took down four attackers at once.

Liverpool had their first chance in the eighth minute when Mohamed Salah was in front of the penalty box, then curled a shot that was right into David Raya’s arms.

The hosts were able to open the scoring in the 13th minute through Salah. From a corner kick situation, the ball was passed by Salah to Fabinho who sent a gastric pass into the penalty box.

Virgil van Dijk got out of control and headed the ball at the far post. There was Salah who cheated on him in front of goal.

Liverpool did not want to waste the opportunity to find a second goal and continued to press Brentford. Darwin Nunez threw out one golden opportunity in the 29th minute when he received Trent’s cross in the penalty box.

Nunez tried to kick off the right foot first time but it was still wide.

Brentford was able to escape from the pressure when the game was running 30 minutes. They began to dare to attack Liverpool and almost endangered the opponent’s defense in the 33rd minute.

Bryan Mbuemo took the ball from Trent who hesitated to release a backpass and passed it to Ivan Toney who ran into the penalty box. Luckily Van Dijk was still able to throw the ball.

Toney executed a free kick in front of the penalty box in the 38th minute but the ball narrowly sideways on the left side of the net.

Liverpool’s goal conceded in the 40th minute when Mbuemo received Toney’s through ball and beat Van Dijk in a one-on-one duel, before slamming his effort past Alisson.

Luckily for the hosts, the VAR disallowed the goal because Mbuemo was caught offside. The 1-0 score lasted until halftime for Liverpool’s lead.

Player lineup

Liverpool: Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Curtis Jones, Fabinho, Cody Gakpo; Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota.

Brentford: David Raya; Aaron Hickey, Mathias Jorgensen, Ethan Pinnock, Ben Mee, Rico Henry; Mathias Jensen, Frank Onyeka, Vitaly Janelt; Bryan Mbeumo, Ivan Toney.

(mrp/adp)