Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo and Chiesa and Salah All Score As Liverpool Beat Bournemouth 4-2 In the Opening Match of the 2025/26 Premier League season
The defending champions had to do it the hard way, but they showed their title credentials and ability to dig deep to secure a win in their first home game of the season.
Liverpool walked out to a packed Anfield as fans bid an emotional farewell to Diogo Jota in their first official home game since the tragedy that took the lives of the former Liverpool forward and his brother Andre.
The champions did not fly out of the blocks as Bournemouth tested them in midfield in the early minutes. However, new signing Hugo Ekitiké took matters into his own hands.
Great Start For Hugo Ekitike At Liverpool
The Frenchman played a quick 1-2 with Alexis Mac Allister and beat a Bournemouth defender to go through on goal. Hugo Ekitike calmly slotted the ball home to give Liverpool the lead.
Ekitike turned provider inside the box as he passed to Cody Gakpo early in the second half. The Dutchman dummied his way past two Bournemouth defenders before placing the ball into the bottom-right corner for 2-0.
After going 2-0 up, Liverpool eased off and Bournemouth smelled blood. David Brooks and Antoine Semenyo combined on the counter to give Bournemouth a goal back just three minutes after the hour mark.
Semenyo equalized for his side 12 minutes later through another quick counter-attack. It looked like Liverpool would drop points at home in the first match of their title defence, but substitute Federico Chiesa stepped up to slam home what looked like the winner in the 88th minute.
Mohamed Salah wrapped up the win for the champions with a well-taken goal in the 94th minute. His late strike means the Egyptian has now scored 10 times on opening days, the most by any player in Premier League history.
A dramatic start to the season at the home of the champions ended with six goals, making it the perfect way to start the first weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign.
