PSV 3-2 Liverpool: Amara Nallo sent off on debut as Reds lose 100% Champions League record
PSV 3-2 Liverpool: Amara Nallo sent off on debut as Reds lose 100% Champions League record
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Cody Gakpo scored on his return to PSV Eindhoven but it was not enough to inspire an understrength Liverpool side as they lost their 100 percent Champions League record after a 3-2 defeat. Head coach Arne Slot left nine of Saturday's starting line-up at home with one eye on the Premier League leaders' weekend trip to Bournemouth but afforded Gakpo the opportunity to face his former club.
![[Amara Nallo was sent off for Liverpool on his debut]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2025/01/29/22/19/SEI237857964.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
When he tucked home a 28th-minute penalty it appeared he had returned to haunt his boyhood club, where he spent five seasons before a move to Anfield two years ago. But PSV exposed their opponents' obvious weaknesses and, although Harvey Elliott scored for the second successive Champions League game, goals for Johan Bakayoko, Ismael Saibari and Ricardo Pepi inflicted Liverpool's third defeat of the season and their 100th in European football.
Liverpool youngster Amara Nallo was sent off late on, just over three minutes into his debut. With Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz all watching from home, Slot had limited experience to call on.
He could have done without Darwin Nunez withdrawing through illness, meaning Jayden Danns was handed his first start and Champions League debut at the age of 19 years and 13 days, the club's youngest starter in the competition. The 20-year-old James McConnell started in midfield while the 22-year-old Tyler Morton was by far the most experienced player on the bench, which included six academy outfield players.
