Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola said the Reds cannot afford to relax after storming back from a two-goal deficit to beat Villarreal 4-3 on Tuesday and maintain a perfect start to their Champions League campaign.
Villarreal coach Inigo Perez looked set to get one over on his old boss Iraola as the Spaniards deservedly took a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes through Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona.
But twice the visitors were undone by their failure to defend crosses into the box as Alexis Mac Allister and Ronald Araujo levelled before half-time.
Mac Allister fired in his second 25 minutes from time and substitute Florian Wirtz completed the comeback as Liverpool moved alongside Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the Champions League table with nine points from three games.
“In the first half, especially the first 30-35 minutes, they have been much better than us. In the second half, especially the first 30-35 minutes, we were much better,” said Iraola.
“I think when we’ve been under pressure and we had to go and leave everything, I think we’ve answered well.
“When we’ve relaxed a little bit at the beginning of the game, or when you score the 4-2, you think, ‘ok it’s done’, it has cost us. You cannot relax.”
Iraola left out all three of his over £100 million ($133 million) forwards as Alexander Isak and Bradley Barcola joined Wirtz on the bench with one eye on the visit of high-flying Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday.
Villarreal took full advantage of the much-changed Liverpool side early on and were gifted the opening goal after just four minutes.
Virgil van Dijk miscued his attempted header back to Alisson Becker and Mikautadze finished coolly from close range.
Perez’s own managerial career got started by chance when he was denied a work permit to join Iraola as his assistant at Bournemouth.
Instead he ended up as boss at Rayo Vallecano, where he had previously worked under Iraola, and led the La Liga minnows to the Conference League final last season.
Perez’s knowledge of Iraola’s system was clear as Villarreal opened up Liverpool at will at times during the first half.
A fine team move finally led to a second goal when Nathan Saliba picked out the run of Cardona from left-back and he steered the ball past Alisson.
Liverpool’s understudies in attack had barely threatened until Mac Allister’s looping header from a Kostas Tsimikas corner kickstarted the fightback.
Rio Ngumoha then began to tease the Villarreal defence but the first of two assists for the 18-year-old owed a lot to poor defending.
Cardona let Ngumoha’s cross go at the back post, unaware that Araujo was steaming in to head in the equaliser.
That was the Uruguayan’s last act as he made way for Wirtz at half-time and Liverpool clicked through the gears after the break.
Ngumoha’s searing pace down the right wing opened up the Villarreal defence and his low cross was smashed in off the underside of the bar by Mac Allister.
“He was amazing tonight,” said Mac Allister on Ngumoha’s impact. “He made the difference.”
Just three minutes later Cody Gakpo picked out Wirtz to score his first goal of the season and hit back at his critics over a lack of end product.
Iraola’s men remained suspect at the back, though, and Tani Oluwaseyi set up a nervy finish with a sweet connection to Ayoze Perez’s cross.
But Liverpool held on to close in on the last 16 and leave Villarreal on just three points from their first three games.
Source: Khaleej Times