When Marcos Llorente scored his second goal to equalize for Atletico Madrid against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday, his team-mates and their coaching staff flooded onto the pitch to celebrate.
Fair enough, surely? After all, fewer than 10 minutes were remaining and the Spaniards had survived a flurry of missed chances before drawing level in a game in which they were second best.
But this was Arne Slot’s Liverpool, who have made a habit of scoring late winners.
By the time captain Virgil van Dijk planted home a powerful header to snatch a 3-2 victory, the stoppage-time winner felt as inevitable as it did thrilling for the home fans.
Liverpool have scored late winners in all five of their competitive matches this season:
- 4-2 v Bournemouth (H, Premier League) – Federico Chiesa 88′ and Mohamed Salah 90+4′
- 3-2 v Newcastle (A, Premier League) – Rio Ngumoha 90+10′
- 1-0 v Arsenal (H, Premier League) – Dominik Szoboszlai 83′
- 1-0 v Burnley (A, Premier League) – Mohamed Salah (pen) 90+3′
- 3-2 v Atletico Madrid (H, Champions League) – Virgil van Dijk 90+2′
That means the average point at which Liverpool’s match-winning moments are happening this season is after 91 minutes.
In 2024-25, the average time it took to score the winning goal in matches won by a single goal was 70 minutes.
The run of late winners is a notable difference from last season, when Liverpool scored only four stoppage-time goals in 48 matches across the Premier League and Champions League, with two in the same game against Brentford.
They did score 13 times after the 80th minute during that Premier League season – but four teams managed more. None of Liverpool’s rivals score late winners at nearly the same rate.
Looking at the other Premier League teams competing in the Champions League this season, Arsenal has the next best rate for winning goals after the 80th minute, but you have to go back 64 games (and 16 months) to reach the five Liverpool has scored in their past five matches. And Liverpool’s flurry of late winners is already the longest in Premier League history.
Is there something special about Slot?
Slot, who replaced Jurgen Klopp last summer, thinks self-belief and fitness have been key to Liverpool’s run.
“There will be games where we are 2-0 up after six minutes, then we will score a third and won’t need stoppage time to get a late winner,” he said on Wednesday.
“There will also be games where we need one in the last minute, and we won’t get it. However, our mentality is that we will always push forward. It’s also about how fit and how well prepared we are that we can push one more time.”
Slot is already among the managers with the highest percentage of late wins in Premier League history.
Why are Liverpool scoring so late so often?
The Reds’ late wins this season have come about in a variety of circumstances.
Against Bournemouth and Atletico, they were comfortably on top and built a two-goal advantage before throwing away cheap goals, only to rectify the situation after piling on the pressure.
At 10-man Newcastle, they also threw away a two-goal lead – but their late winner came against the run of play.
Against Arsenal and Burnley, they struggled to create clear-cut opportunities against resolute defences, ultimately prevailing thanks to set pieces.
There is no blueprint by which Liverpool is earning these victories, then.
However, examining how the goals have emerged may provide some insight into why they’re happening.
Liverpool’s squad has undergone significant changes since Klopp began revamping their midfield in the summer of 2023. Only nine members of the first-team squad that finished the 2022-23 season remain.
The revitalized group is led by a small collection of senior players who won every trophy on offer under Klopp – Alisson, Van Dijk, Andy Robertson, and Salah.
The last of those has generated the most goal involvements for this season’s late winners – scoring twice and assisting once.
