Genk 1 Liverpool 4: Oxlade-Chamberlain scores twice to steal the show on return to Champions League after 18 months
QUITE easily, we could have been talking about another dodgy away result for Jurgen Klopp in the Champions League group stages.
Instead, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored the type of stunning goal which did not belong to this scrappy but nevertheless entertaining game in eastern Belgium.
And Oxlade-Chamberlain could not have even dreamed about a goal like this as he spent a year on the sidelines worrying whether he would ever kick a ball again.
Oxlade-Chamberlain had already put his side ahead in the second minute for his first goal since April 2018 when he netted in a 3-0 win over Manchester City.
But that was nothing to his outrageous second goal in the 57th minute when he used the outside of his right boot to send a ball looping into the net via the underside of the bar.
Little wonder Oxlade-Chamberlain’s was mobbed by his team as they will have appreciated quite what he had gone through since wrecking his knee following a tackle from Roma’s Aleksandar Kolarov in the 2018 Champions League semi-final.
Sadio Mane and Mo Salah added to the scoring before Genk pulled one back through substitute Stephen Odey.
But this was Oxlade-Chamberlain’s night and maybe he is also proving to be a lucky omen for Klopp.
Before the game, the German coach accepted his team’s away performances in the group stages had not been good enough, with just one win in seven under his tenure.
The only win came in a 7-0 battering of Maribor two years ago and that, incredibly, was the last time Oxlade-Chamberlain found the net in Europe.
Equally, though, Liverpool - who were annoyed with the VAR decisions at Manchester United on Sunday - got lucky with a major decision in the first half.
Incredibly, they could easily have trailed 3-1 at half-time rather than lead 1-0.
The defensive mistakes would have been even tougher for Joe Gomez who could still not find a place in the team and he must now be doing some major soul-searching.
There was no place for him despite Trent Alexander-Arnold remaining on Merseyside with a virus and Joel Matip suffering a recurrence of a knee injury.
Gomez, a golden boy for both Klopp and England a year ago, was criticised by fans for his performance in the 4-3 win over Salzburg, has been relegated to Gareth Southgate’s bench and was once again overlooked by his club manager.
Instead, Dejan Lovren was not particularly convincing as he partnered Virgil van Dijk while James Milner proved he is arguably the most versatile player in English football by moving cross to right-back but he still had some tough moments.
It started well enough for Liverpool as Fabinho crafted a clever pass inside to Oxlade-Chamberlain who, from about 25 yards, took a touch before driving the ball into the bottom left corner with keeper Gaetan Coucke rooted to the spot.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is a popular player among the Liverpool supporters. And even more so after he goaded Manchester United fans by offering to fist bump them after the game at Trafford on Sunday.
Yet despite this fine start, Liverpool were not particularly convincing and continued to look creaky when Genk played it long.
Manchester United fan Ally Samatta screwed a shot wide when he should have scored while Paul Onuachu had a better chance, but could only force a save by Alisson.
Mane was guilty of some poor finishing when being released courtesy of a brilliantly, outrageous flick by Bobby Firmino.
This was, however, not really the type of performance where the visitors could justify any type of showboating.
And Liverpool and were extremely fortunate when Slovenian ref Slavko Vincic cut short the home celebrations by blowing his whistle for offside after Samatta overpowered Milner to score past Alisson.
After a long wait, VAR agreed with the linesman there had been an offside in the build-up courtesy of the head of midfielder Junya Ito.
Genk, spurred on by a couple of drummers and their noisy crowd considering there were only 20,000 or so inside here, kept pushing and testing Klopp’s makeshift defence.
But Oxlade-Chamberlain silenced them with this his moment of class after Firmino pulled the ball back.
Many fans in the home areas applauded this strike and when that happens, you know the goal has been something special.
Liverpool had finally overcome their spirited opponents who will surely finish bottom of the table.
Firmino and Salah combined for Mane to flick the ball over the keeper for the third.
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Gomez was given a run-out for Andy Robertson but then there was a standing ovation when local lad Divock Origi, who spent eight years as a youth player without making a senior appearance for Genk, replaced Firmino.
Mo Salah had too much strength for Carlos Cuesta before scoring and Genk then scored a goal they deserved through Odey after Patrik Hrosovsky had too much strength for Gomez.
So in the end, there were five goals but the only one we remember came from Oxlade-Chamberlain.
