Roberto Firmino still a force to be reckoned with in dazzling Liverpool line-up

As Liverpool brought a level of intensity never before seen in the Premier League over the past few years, Premier League football has somewhat passed Roberto Firmino by.

Even his most fervent followers, who insist the Brazilian links up the game like no other, struggled to justify Firmino being selected above the breathless Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

Replacing Mane with Darwin Nunez, one of Europe’s leading marksmen, was another blow to Firmino’s hopes of being seen as the focal point of the Liverpool attack again, but in a near-perfect display against Bournemouth in his side’s record-equalling 9-0 win, he proved there’s still life in those samba feet yet.

Firmino became the first ever Liverpool player to be involved in four goals – three assists and a goal – in the first half of a Premier League match, before adding a poacher’s second in the second half. No box, throughout the 90 minutes, had been left unchecked.

But it was perhaps one flick, in one of the rare Liverpool forays forward that did not lead to a goal, that typified what Firmino is all about, and sent a reminder to those who doubt he can still impact games that the Brazilian has his very unique uses.

With players fizzing past him, left and right, Firmino somehow snook a back-heel flick into Harvey Elliot that not only picked out his man in the tightest of half spaces, but fell right into the stride of his young team-mate. The flick alone had fans gasping for air, before a glaring miss from Salah brought them back down to earth.

Jurgen Klopp issued an especially long rallying cry in his pre-match programme notes, calling Liverpool’s three-match winless opening to the new Premier League season a “false start”.

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