Alexis Mac Allister strengthened his case for an improved Liverpool contract with the winner as Andoni Iraola got off to a winning Uefa Champions League start by beating Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Wednesday.
Mac Allister expressed his frustration at not being offered a new deal on the eve of the match, but responded by blasting home from the edge of the box to cap Liverpool's comeback. Marcos Llorente had given Atletico an early lead before Dominik Szoboszlai levelled before half-time.
"It's difficult to ask for more," said Iraola, who had never previously coached in European football's top competition.
"We've shown big character, especially the players after a difficult start to do the second half they have done. I've loved it. The atmosphere has been incredible and I feel lucky, lucky to experience it."
For the first time, three players who cost in excess of £100 million (about R 2.17 billion) were named in the same side as Barcola made his Anfield debut alongside Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz in the Liverpool attack.
Isak fired just wide after a purposeful break by Szoboszlai in an energetic start by Liverpool in the first Champions League game of Iraola's career. But in their desperation to pour forward, the Reds left themselves wide open to the counter-attack.
Atletico were humbled 3-0 by Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, falling five points off the pace in La Liga, and coach Diego Simeone admitted they had a lot of work to do to reach the Champions League final at their own Metropolitano Stadium.
Julian Alvarez's future has cast a cloud over Atletico on and off the field for the past few months after his desire for a move to Barcelona was steadfastly rejected by the club's hierarchy.
The Argentine was handed his first start of the season and cut open the Liverpool defence for the opening goal.
"I think Julian was fantastic. He wanted the ball all the time from minute one to minute 90 and that makes me very happy," said Simeone. "That's the kind of performance I want to see from him."
Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard for another match-winning moment as his goal sealed a 1-0 victory over Napoli on Wednesday that the Gunners boss said did not reflect a "remarkable" performance from his side.
Last season's runners-up began their Champions League campaign with a win at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona that was settled by Odegaard's 75th-minute bullet strike on a night they racked up 26 shots, a club record away from home in the competition.
Odegaard has started the 2026/27 in sensational form, scoring four goals in five games, including back-to-back winners against Chelsea and Napoli.
It marks a notable change in output from the Arsenal skipper, who scored one goal in 36 appearances in all competitions last season, and Arteta was asked about the attacking midfielder's increased productivity in front of goal.
"First of all, he needs to be available, and last year he missed so many games through injuries," Arteta said.
"He's got that edge and he's got different relationships around him as well. That helps.
"Now he can start to occupy some different heights in the team, especially in the attacking phase. When we get him into those positions, he's a really dangerous player."
"What we need is players with that mindset to decide a game," he added.
"To play with that personality, that if an action might not happen, the next one, the next one, keep taking chances and risks. He's getting into those positions much more in recent games and you feel he has this emotional state that he knows the ball can go in, and he scored an incredible goal tonight."
Arsenal have started the season strongly, winning all three of their English Premier League games after brushing Manchester City aside in the Community Shield last month.
"(I'm) very happy," said Arteta, who felt the result undersold the quality of his team's display in Naples.
"The way we attacked the game from the very first minute, the way we competed, the clarity we had with how we had to attack them to disorganise them, the purpose, the quality. The amount of chances we generated.
"For sure the scoreline has to reflect a very different result. We'll get there, because if we were a bit more precise it would have been much bigger. But to do what we've done today in this stadium against this opponent, is remarkable from the team."
For Napoli, the defeat marked another setback for new coach Massimiliano Allegri, whose side suffered a third consecutive loss in all competitions following Serie A reverses to Como and Inter. | AFP
Uefa Champions League matchday 1 results
Tuesday
Club Brugge 2, Aston Villa 3
AEK 1, LASK 0
Porto 0, Man City 2
Real Madrid 2, Inter Milan 1
Dortmund 3, Villarreal 2
LOSC 2, Betis 3
Wednesday
Barcelona 5, Feyenoord 1
VfB Stuttgart 3, Viking 1
Napoli 0, Arsenal 1
Liverpool 2, Atlético Madrid 1
PSG 6, Slovan Bratislava 1
SCP 3, Galatasaray 1
Upcoming fixtures
Thursday
Fenerbahçe v Roma, 6.45pm
PSV v Shakhtar Donetsk, 6.45pm
Bayern v Bodø/Glimt, 9pm
Slavia Praha v Lens, 9pm
Como v RB Leipzig, 9pm
Man Utd v Sabah, 9pm