Diego Simeone impressed by one Liverpool player who was 'great' v Atletico

By Giuseppe Labellarte

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker has been praised by Diego Simeone for his “great” performance in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Jurgen Klopp’s Reds began brightly against Atletico Madrid and raced into a two-goal lead by the quarter-hour mark.

On seven minutes, Mohamed Salah beat Yannick Carrasco, Thomas Lemar and Koke before rifling into the bottom corner via a deflection.

Then, a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross was half-cleared into the path of Naby Keita, who rifled home on the volley from 20 yards out.

On 20 minutes, Atletico fired back through Antoine Griezmann – following a VAR check – and equalised with his second 15 minutes later.

However, the Frenchman’s night ended early in the second half, getting sent off for a high boot which caught Roberto Firmino in the face.

And in the second half, Mario Hermoso brought down Diogo Jota in the box for a penalty which Salah converted.

At the other end, Jota barged into Josema Gimenez, but the referee opted to overturn his own initial spot-kick decision after a VAR check.

While most of Liverpool’s players delivered mixed displays on the night, Alisson was impressive throughout.

The £150,000-a-week ace couldn’t do anything for Atletico’s goals and made fine saves to deny Joao Felix, Griezmann, Lemar and Carrasco.

“A tough game against a great side”

Simeone himself singled out Alisson after the game, telling Marca: “It was a tough game against a great side, and they normally score a lot of goals in their games.

“We didn’t start as we wanted to, but after they scored their second, things started to go better for us and we had enough chances to go ahead.

“We had the best chance of the second half, but their keeper made a great save.”

Liverpool now sit five points clear at the top of Group B with nine points from three games.