Liverpool’s defence of their Premier League title got off to an unconvincing start but the late 4-2 victory was soured by alleged racist abuse directed at Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo.
The winger responded brilliantly with both the Cherries’ goals as they came from two down as Andoni Iraola’s side exposed the same defensive weaknesses Crystal Palace did in Sunday’s Community Shield victory.
But forgotten man Federico Chiesa, Liverpool’s solitary signing last summer who has barely featured and whose future looked to be elsewhere, volleyed home his first league goal in the 88th minute before Mohamed Salah scored for the eighth time in nine opening-day fixtures.
But that did not diminish what was hugely-deserved credit for Semenyo, who did not allow the first-half incident to throw him off his game, as he gave former team-mate and Liverpool’s new left-back Milos Kerkez a torrid time.
Liverpool had announced the £23million signing of 18-year-old Parma centre-back Giovanni Leoni before kick-off but it would be no surprise for this result to hasten the pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi with Ibrahima Konate, in particular, looking particularly shaky.
It had begun so well with another new signing Hugo Ekitike starting to pay back his £69million transfer fee with a first-half goal, having scored last weekend.
But shortly afterwards referee Anthony Taylor halted play, calling Liverpool head coach Arne Slot and Iraola together with the fourth official Farai Hallam to tell them the Semenyo had reported a racist comment from a fan at the front of the Main Stand.
It is also understood police visited the officials’ dressing room at half-time.
Within four minutes of the second half starting Cody Gakpo, via an Ekitike assist, doubled the lead but Liverpool were far from their best on a night when Anfield remembered former striker Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva after their deaths in a car crash last month.
In the Kop there was a banner dedicated to Jota’s family, who in the week Slot said he expected to be in attendance, which said ‘Anfield will always be your home. You’ll never walk alone’, while Bournemouth fans brought their own which read ‘Diogo Jota. 20 Together’.
Perimeter hoardings read ‘Rest in peace Diogo Jota and Andre Silva’, and fans in the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand and the Kop held ‘AS 30’ and ‘DJ 20’ mosaics during the minute’s silence while Jota’s song was sung at kick-off.
Ekitike extended his own tribute by signalling a two and a zero – Jota’s now-retired shirt number – with his fingers after his 37th minute goal.
The France Under-21 international thought he had been denied by the season’s first VAR controversy after just 14 minutes when Marcos Senesi appeared to flick the ball away on the halfway line but VAR ruled it was not a clear handball or the denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
Ekitike then benefited from a more fortuitous touch off the defender, latching onto a mistake after his own miscontrol of Alexis Mac Allister’s pass to run through and comfortably send Djordje Petrovic the wrong way.
He then headed over before half-time but his assimilation into the role vacated by Jota and Darwin Nunez, sold to Al-Hilal, was evident as he laid on the return pass for Gakpo to glide past a couple of defenders and stroke past Petrovic.
But when Slot replaced both full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, two of the four new signings making their debuts, Bournemouth clinically exploited the unfamiliarity of midfielder Wataru Endo playing at right-back.
David Brooks raced down the left and Konate could not prevent him sending over a teasing, low cross which Semenyo cleverly finished.
Slot made immediate changes, bringing on defender Joe Gomez despite just two days’ training after three weeks out with injury, to allow Endo to move into midfield and club-record signing Florian Wirtz moving to a false nine for Ekitike.
But when Salah, of all people, gave away possession on the edge of the opposition penalty area a fast four-on-two counter-attack saw Semenyo fire home, only for Chiesa, already a cult hero despite his lack of action, to be the saviour.
Salah completed the scoring in added-time and was last to leave the pitch, with tears in his eyes, having stood applauding the Kop singing Jota’s song.
