UCL: Liverpool Overcome Disastrous Start to Beat Villarreal

Reds come from two down in Anfield thriller

Liverpool came from two goals down to beat Villarreal 4-3 in a pulsating Champions League clash at Anfield, maintaining their perfect start to the league phase with a third straight win.

Reds edge seven-goal classic to extend perfect Champions League start...

Liverpool made it three wins from three to begin this season's Champions League league phase, coming from two goals down to beat Villarreal 4-3 in a thriller at Anfield.

Having won 15 of their last 16 Champions League group and league-phase games at home, Liverpool came into the tie as heavy favourites to extend that run against Villarreal.

Yet it was the visitors who struck first, silencing Anfield inside four minutes. A stray header from Virgil van Dijk fell straight to Georges Mikautadze, who kept his cool to slot beyond Alisson and into the bottom corner.

That early setback made for a tense opening 20 minutes at Anfield, with Rio Ngumoha the one bright spot in an otherwise disjointed Liverpool display.

Villarreal, by contrast, looked far sharper all over the pitch as the half went on, and they got a deserved second goal before the half-hour.

Allowed far too much space, Nathan Saliba picked out Sergi Cardona with a slide-rule pass, and the left-back kept his composure to roll the ball past Alisson at the Kop end.

The two-goal deficit finally jolted Liverpool awake, and they pulled one back almost immediately as Alexis Mac Allister met Kostas Tsimikas' outswinging corner with a firm header.

The midfielder went close again moments later with a 25-yard effort that whistled just wide, while up the other end Alisson had to tip Santiago Mourino's fierce strike over the bar.

The frantic, end-to-end tempo showed no sign of easing before the break, and Liverpool found an equaliser in stoppage time when Ronald Araujo rose at the far post to nod home a superb delivery from the influential Ngumoha.

Slot’s men carried that momentum into the second half, but Villarreal keeper Peter Gulacsi stood firm, pulling off quickfire saves to deny Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz.

Still chasing a sixth straight Champions League win over Spanish opposition, Liverpool kept probing, and their pressure finally told when Ngumoha burst to the byline and cut it back for Mac Allister to tap in from close range.

A fourth arrived just three minutes later, as Wirtz latched onto Gakpo’s pass and drilled a clinical finish into the bottom corner to open his account for the season.

Crazy game at Anfield 😳 #UCL https://t.co/gIXfYR3NRd

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 20, 2026

Villarreal refused to lie down, though, and set up a tense finish when substitute Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi met Ayoze Perez’s cross with a thumping volley.

Game By Numbers

 Liverpool held firm through stoppage time to preserve their perfect start to the league phase, while Villarreal’s winless run against English sides in the Champions League now stretches to 17 games - six draws and 11 defeats.

Rio Ngumoha POTM 🏆 Special talent 💫 #UCL https://t.co/ZabR1kJsY4

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 20, 2026