Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has praised Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker for his second-half save against Aston Villa’s Danny Ings.
The Reds stopper had a fairly mixed evening against Steven Gerrard’s charges, it has to be said.
Alisson didn’t cover himself in glory for Douglas Luiz’s initial effort ahead of his opener, even though his defenders made the bigger error.
Then, the Brazilian made an uncharacteristically bad error when he gifted possession to Ollie Watkins just outside the area.
However, Alisson managed to save his blushes by hoofing the ball clear at the last second.
In the second half, the £150,000-a-week star redeemed himself with two great saves to thwart Danny Ings.
On 69 minutes, the Villa striker went through on goal, but Alisson made a superb one-on-one stop.
“People may say it’s a bad miss when someone goes through on goal,” said Carragher (10/5/22, 21:29)
“But Ings is going through against the best goalkeeper in the world in those situations.
“Nine times out of 10, Alisson prevails.”
Alisson also kept Ings out in the 84th minute, tipping away an effort at his near post.
Liverpool conceded in the opening three minutes, but they were level just three minutes later.
Tyrone Mings made a mess in clearing a Trent Alexander-Arnold free kick.
Virgil van Dijk picked up the rebound and flicked the ball past Emi Martinez, with Joel Matip on hand to make sure the ball crossed the line.
The game settled following the frantic start, and both sides got to half time on a level pegging.
And in the 65th minute, a Reds break from a Villa corner enabled Diaz to cross for Sadio Mane, who flicked a neat header into the net.