What Trent Alexander-Arnold did as Dominik Szoboszlai’s annoyance with Luton supporters boiled over
An examination of a few highlights from Liverpool’s 1-1 tie with Luton Town that you might have missed.
Luis Diaz’s equalizer in the 95th minute prevented Liverpool from suffering their second loss of the year as they won a 1-1 draw at Luton Town on Sunday.
It was up to replacement Diaz to head home the equalizer from Harvey Elliott’s cross after Tahith Chong had given the hosts the lead in the second half.
Before he did, however, he revealed an emotive and pointed message to his father’s captors back in Colombia under his jersey.
At the full-time whistle, Diaz’s teammates surrounded him, showing their unwavering support for him and his family during a terrifying circumstance involving his father in South America.
On Sunday afternoon, the ECHO was near Kenilworth Road to capture some of the moments you might have missed.
There was one textbook piece of play from Alisson Becker that caught the eyes of more than a handful of fans packed into the home end on Sunday afternoon.
With the goalkeeper looking to start a quick counter-attack having gathered the ball, the Brazil international slung a trademark long pass straight to the feet of Mohamed Salah wide on the right to put the Luton defenders under pressure in a blink.
It was the sort of stuff that Alisson has made his calling card at Anfield since he joined in 2018 but if Liverpool supporters are used to such levels of excellence with the ball at his feet, it was one that the Luton Town faithful don’t get to see most weeks.
As the gasps became audible around the group of fans who were situated near the assembled press on the day, one particular match-goer summed up the general feeling of the home supporters after seeing the sublime pass.
Alexander-Arnold laughs off abuse
When Trent Alexander-Arnold was sent hurtling towards the advertising board in the first half, the Liverpool defender was almost flung into the front row of the crowd itself such was the speed he was travelling at.
That was one fan’s cue to get right into the face of the Reds right-back to presumably offer some words that were less than encouraging.
“You Scouse b******!” quickly rang out around Kenilworth Road as a result and it would have been interesting to have gained the thoughts of Wavertree-born Luton midfielder Ross Barkley at that specific moment.
Alexander-Arnold saw the amusing side of the incident, at least, and was smiling as he walked away from the man in question. If anything, he probably took it all as a compliment.
New ball, please
It was an afternoon to forget for Dominik Szoboszlai at Kenilworth Road in what was a rare off-day for the Hungary captain at the weekend.
The 23-year-old struggled to exert his considerable influence on proceedings and was generally a peripheral figure throughout in the midfield battle.
And it was evident that the frustrations had got the better of him to a point in the second half when the referee stopped the play for an injury on the other side of the pitch.
Such was Szoboszlai’s anger that he literally belted the ball out of the stadium with a left-footed rocket.
The ball itself threatened to sail higher than the fireworks being set off around the ground and someone near the stadium might just have ended up with a unique souvenir of the day’s action due to Szoboszlai’s ‘have it!’ moment.
Luckily, the No.8 was not cautioned despite not only kicking the ball away but sending it into another postcode entirely.
Diaz support obvious
For goalscorer Luis Diaz, it was an emotional afternoon after his header rescued a point on his return to the team following two matches out.
Having sat out the wins against Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth as he awaited updates from his homeland after the shock kidnapping of his father last week, that Diaz was able to haul himself off the bench to contribute significantly is testament to his mental strength.
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