Liverpool made hard work for themselves as they edged past Villarreal 4-3 in game week three of the UEFA Champions League group phase.

Goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Ronald Araújo and Florian Wirtz saw the Reds come out victorious, but after half an hour it seemed like this was going to be a very different story.

A nightmare start for the Captain

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk made a serious blunder when clearing his lines as he played in Georgian striker Georges Mikautadze, who rolled the ball into the far corner to open scoring for the visitors.

Liverpool's press was easily beaten because it was highly disjointed.

The 4-4-2 flat press saw Ryan Gravenberch, the number ten at the start of the game, play as a second striker in the press, and if Lewis Koumas was to chase the defender down, the Dutchman would not come across.

This allowed Villarreal space to play the ball through the team, with the home side also having the two midfielders push so high up they were like two number tens off the ball.

As Villarreal could play freely around the team when pressed, it created lots of trouble, as the spaces in midfield meant the defence had no support.

With van Dijk pushing up just before the half-hour mark, it created a massive gap in behind for Sergi Cardona to run through and slot the ball away to double the Spanish side's lead.

With the travelling El Submarino Amarillo fans in pandemonium, it needed a huge change for fortunes to go back towards Liverpool's favour.

The Liverpool resurgence before half-time

Loanee Ronald Araújo moved from right back into an inverted full back role to add another body to the midfield, after the press left too many gaps which needed covering.

Whilst at the time it felt as if this was giving Rio Ngumoha too much to cope with, the fortunes of Iraola's side changed.

After a great bit of striker play from Koumas which saw Cody Gakpo receive the ball, the Dutchman's cross led to a corner.

Left back Kostas Tsimikas then proved why he is in the team as he delivered a perfect ball onto the head of Mac Allister to pull one back for the Reds.

2-1: game on.

Just as the half was ending and fans were leaving to get to the front of the food and drink queue, Rio Ngumoha continued to give a torrid time to Villarreal's full backs, as he got down the left-hand side to clip a ball far post.

There, a determined Araújo found himself in the perfect position to thump the ball into the back of the net after the Yellow Submarine's left back left the ball to go out.

All of a sudden, there is a different conversation to be had in this game.

The Florian Wirtz effect

The second half saw Araújo depart for Florian Wirtz, who has found himself in a brilliant patch of form, with his last game against Brentford seeing him create nine chances and grab an assist.

Fans were hopeful he would change the game, as his link-up play within the team has been crucial to the recent wins.

They were also hoping he would score, as it has been a huge missing piece of the puzzle for the superstar signing in the summer of 2025.

Gravenberch went from playing as a shadow striker in the ten to playing right back, and the latter suited his game a lot more.

The profiles matching players' positions were reflected in the domination of the second half.

Wirtz plugged holes where the midfield were not supporting wide players, whilst also progressing the ball into the attacking third.

Rio continued to terrorise the poor Villarreal defence, who had no answers to his bursts of speed and direction change.

Twenty minutes into the second half then saw the brace for Mac Allister, all because of Ngumoha.

The 18-year-old ran rings round his opposition before a brilliant cutback saw the Argentinian strike into the roof of the net to take the lead.

The result was then all but confirmed after Wirtz claimed the most deserved goal of the night.

Less than five minutes later, Wirtz managed to pick the ball up in the box from Gakpo's pass as he drilled the ball low across goal from the left-hand side to confirm the three points for the Reds.

A late goal showed signs of a comeback, which placed Liverpool into a very deep formation to soak up pressure and see the game out, which ended up succeeding as Liverpool finished the game 4-3 winners.

Unmarked Tani Oluwaseyi's tap-in at the far post proved not enough as Liverpool made it three wins from three in the Champions League group stage.

Next up

Liverpool's next fixture is back at Anfield against in-form Brighton, who have not lost a game since August in all competitions.

As for the Champions League, Liverpool will have to wait two weeks to face a tough away trip to Fenerbahçe, where they'll aim to match PSG at the top of the table as the only team to have a perfect record in this season's Champions League group phase.