UCL: Milan stay in the shadows of Liverpool's mighty twin towers

It started horribly for Liverpool on Tuesday night at Milan, but it soon became a perfect night for Arne Slot's side.

After conceding within the opening three minutes, the Reds bounced back remarkably for a dominant 3-1 away win.

Ex-Chelsea star Christian Pulisic broke the deadlock before centre-back duo Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk presented their set-piece skills in the rival's area to change the game's momentum even before half-time.

Dominik Szoboszlai added one more following an eye-pleasing counter in the second half to seal the deal.

It was a surprising, almost shocking start to the game, with Pulisic making it 1-0 out of nowhere. The Rossonerri jumped on that wave and were riding high for about ten more minutes when the visitors finally managed to regroup and find their rhythm.

From that moment on, it was a dominant performance of Slot's boys, who were close to equalizing when Mohamed Salah hit the crossbar (he would do the same some 15 minutes later). The shaken hosts managed to stay resilient until the 23rd minute, but Konate's header, following Trent Alexnder-Arnold's cross, was just too good and the score was levelled, 1-1.

Salah struck the bar again, as we mentioned, before VVD completed the complete turnaround before the half-time whistle, meeting Tsimikas' corner on the near post with a close-range header.

A flawless display of the Reds came to its peak midway through the second half, as Cody Gakpo ended a mouth-watering run by squaring the ball to Dominik Szoboszlai for an elegant tap-in, 3-1.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 1

Tuesday

Juventus - PSV 3-1 (2-0)

/Yildiz 21, McKennie 27, Gonzales 52 - Saibari 90+3/

Young Boys - Aston Villa 0-3 (0-2)

/Tielemans 27, Ramsey 38, Onana 85/

AC Milan - Liverpool 1-3 (1-2)

/Pulisic 3 - Konate 23, van Dijk 41, Szoboszlai 67/

Bayern Munich - Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 (3-0)

/Kane 19 pen, 58, 63 pen, 78 pen, Guerreiro 33, Olise 38, 61, Sane 85, Goretzka 90+2 - Petkovic 49, Ogiwara 50/

Real Madrid - Stuttgart 3-1 (0-0)

/Mbappe 46, Rudiger 83, Endrick 90+5 - Undav 68/

Sporting - Lille 2-0 (1-0)

/Gyokeres 38, Debast 65/

Wednesday

19:45: (1.95) Bologna (3.60) Shakhtar (4.30)

19:45: (2.45) Sparta Praha (3.40) Salzburg (2.85)

22:00: (1.37) Celtic (5.20) Slovan B. (10.0)

22:00: (3.80) Club Brugge (3.50) Dortmund (2.10)

22:00: (1.55) Man.City (4.10) Inter (6.00)

22:00: (1.42) PSG (4.60) Girona (7.50)

Thursday

19:45: (4.20) Crvena Zvezda (3.60) Benfica (1.95)

19:45: (4.40) Feyenoord (3.70) Leverkusen (1.80)

22:00: (4.10) Atalanta (3.50) Arsenal (1.90)

22:00: (1.80) Atl.Madrid (3.60) RB Leipzig (4.60)

22:00: (1.90) Brest (3.60) Sturm (4.50)

22:00: (4.60) Monaco (3.60) Barcelona (1.80)

***odds are subject to change***