Joel Matip rescues Liverpool with late winner against Ajax

Defender Joel Matip was the unlikely hero to get Liverpool’s Champions League campaign back on track as his 89th-minute header secured a laboured 2-1 win over Ajax.

After last week’s 4-1 horror show – as Jurgen Klopp called it – against Napoli their manager wanted a performance of more substance than style.

But, after Mohamed Salah’s first goal in eight European games had put them ahead, more defensive frailties allowed Mohammed Kudus, the striker who was seemingly on his way to Everton before team-mate Antony was sold to Manchester United, to equalise.

A laboured second half, which included a personnel and formation change, failed to produce any genuine threat until Matip rose highest at a corner and his header crossed the line despite the best efforts of Dusan Tadic.

It was the stroke of good fortune the Reds were in desperate need of as, although second-half substitute Darwin Nunez made an impact, the game appeared to be heading towards a frustrating draw until the tall centre-back’s late intervention.

Klopp had spoken about the need for his side to reinvent themselves after Naples, but his team selection, with midfield still an area of weakness, was more a series of tweaks than anything radical.

His decision to hand Diogo Jota, their pressing machine, a first start since May after injury instead of big-money summer signing Nunez was a deliberate attempt to inject more energy up front in the expectation it would be replicated behind him.

The Portugal international’s early endeavours were matched by Thiago Alcantara, in his first start since the opening day of the season after injury, but his fellow midfielders Fabinho and Harvey Elliott were not quite at the same level.

Pure passion. pic.twitter.com/iDUUrxZWd1

Jota’s