Norwich City 0-3 Liverpool
by Gene Sylvester

CARROW ROAD welcomed back football, as we know and love it, with the fans, and Liverpool provided the Premier League “welcome back” as their first opponents.

It was the second time in two promotions that Norwich faced Liverpool in their opening match following promotion, and the outcome was no different from their previous opening day encounters, with Liverpool taking all three points in a 3-0 victory.

The atmosphere pre-match was, as you would expect after 18 months away for most of the fans, electric, with both sets of fans announcing their return, and indeed appreciating each other’s vocal efforts with applauds.

The home team were the quickest out of the blocks, bossing possession and looking the more cohesive of the two teams, buoyed on by the relentless support from the returning home crowd.

But despite the Canaries’ positive start, it was the men in red who provided the first effort on target, with Diogo Jota’s header being flicked over the bar by Tim Krul following a chipped ball into the box by Naby Keita.

Norwich’s first and only shot on target in the game inevitably came courtesy of Teemu Pukki, who latched on to a lofted ball from Todd Cantwell in behind the returning Virgil Van Dijk.

The Finnish striker bore down on goal, but his angle was always tight and his shot ended up being saved with relative ease by Allison in the Liverpool goal.

The Norwich number ten was inadvertently involved in the opening goal, with the Norwich faithful believing that he was fouled by Van Dijk in the build-up.

Within seconds of the incident, James Milner had found Alexander-Arnold in acres of space down the right-hand side and the England man’s low cross seemed to be miscontrolled by Salah, but the Egyptian’s poor touch cushioned the ball perfectly into the path of Jota.

The ex-Wolves player’s strike was not the cleanest, but it was enough to wrongfoot Krul and give Liverpool the lead.

Farke felt the opening goal was somewhat fortuitous.

“We conceded an unlucky goal where we stopped, expecting a foul on Pukki, and then we were overloaded with five against three with our defence maybe dropping a little bit early.

“I also don’t think Salah meant to assist like this, and I don’t think that Jota meant to strike the ball like this.”

Farke’s luck did not improve in the second half, with Liverpool’s second coming via a deflected Sadio Mane shot which found its way to an unmarked Salah in the box.

The Liverpool striker, who has scored on the opening day of the previous four seasons, unselfishly squared to substitute Roberto Firmino to have the simplest of tap-ins to double the lead for the visitors.

Klopp was quick to highlight Salah’s assist, despite the fact that his number eleven was on the verge of breaking a Premier League record for becoming the first ever player to score in five consecutive opening-day games of the season.

“When you know that you can break the record, and you assist the first two goals, that’s really good. He is a proper competitive boy. Even after he scored, he tried to find Sadio Mane twice. It’s good to have him,” Klopp said.

And it was indeed. “The Egyptian King” netted Liverpool’s third goal and wrapped up the three points.

Kostas Tsimikas’s corner was only cleared as far as the edge of the box, where Salah pounced on the loose ball and whipped in a trademark left-footed shot through a host of bodies and past the despairing dive of Krul.

The difference that a packed stadium made to the occasion was not lost on anyone at Carrow Road, and Farke was moved by the support that he and his players received before, during and after the final whistle had gone.

Despite his disappointment about the result, the Norwich boss saw positives to take away from the game, with the return of the Norwich fans being one.

“This welcome makes you feel pretty small, humble and grateful, and I feel privileged to work for this club and these supporters.

“The players and fans deserved to enjoy this atmosphere today because it felt unbelievable to be reunited today.”