UEFA Champions League, League Stage 3LiverpoolLIV 4 3 Full Time VillarrealVIL Venue Anfield Referee Szymon MarciniakAlexis Mac Allister 36Ronald Araujo 45+2Alexis Mac Allister 65Florian Wirtz 68 Georges Mikautadze 4Sergi Cardona Bermdez 29Tani Oluwaseyi 87Liverpool fought back from two goals down to beat Villarreal 4-3 in a thrilling Champions League encounter at Anfield, maintaining their perfect start to the league phase. Alexis Mac Allister scored twice, while Ronald Araujo and Florian Wirtz were also on target as Andoni Iraolas side recovered from a dreadful opening half-hour.Villarreal had raced into a 2-0 lead through Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona, but Liverpool responded with four unanswered goals before Tani Oluwaseyi set up a nervy finish.The visitors stunned Anfield inside four minutes when Virgil van Dijk badly misplaced a header, allowing Mikautadze to collect the loose ball and fire a low left-footed effort past Alisson.Liverpool struggled to settle, with Villarreal looking dangerous whenever they attacked and the hosts repeatedly leaving space behind their defence.Mikautadze had an opportunity to double the lead in the 19th minute but failed to pick out Santi Comesana after finding space inside the penalty area.The Spanish side eventually got their second in the 29th minute when Nathan Saliba slipped a pass through Liverpools defensive line.Cardona raced onto the ball and calmly slotted past Alisson into the bottom corner, leaving the home side facing a mountain to climb.Liverpool finally responded seven minutes later when Konstantinos Tsimikas delivered a corner into the area and Mac Allister rose to head home from close range.The Argentine almost grabbed another moments later, sending a powerful effort narrowly wide from 25 yards.Villarreal remained a threat, with Santiago Mourino forcing Alisson into a fine save, but Liverpool were beginning to create more opportunities.Their improvement was rewarded in first-half stoppage time when Rio Ngumoha collected a partially cleared corner and delivered an excellent cross towards the back post.Araujo arrived unmarked to head past Peter Gulacsi, bringing Liverpool level at 2-2 with virtually the final touch of the half.The UEFA Champions League Table UEFA Champions League 2026 World #TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAGDPtsLast 2 1 Paris Saint Germain220010376 W W 2 Barcelona22009276 L W 3 Aston Villa22009276 W W 4 VfB Stuttgart22006156 D W 5 Liverpool22008446 W W 6 Sporting CP22005146 W W 7 Arsenal22004046 W W 8 Real Madrid22006426 W W 9 Real Betis22006426 W W 10 Bayern Mnchen21108354 D W 11 Shakhtar Donetsk21104224 W D 12 Como21016423 L W 13 Manchester United21014223 L W 14 Villarreal21015413 L W 15 Atletico Madrid21013213 D W 16 Club Brugge KV21016603 W L 17 Manchester City21014403 W L 18 Borussia Dortmund21013303 W L 19 Lens210134-13 L W 20 AEK Athens FC210123-13 L L 21 RB Leipzig210124-23 W L 22 Sabah FA210124-23 L W 23 Feyenoord210147-33 W L 24 Bodo/Glimt210115-43 L W 25 AS Roma201145-11 W L 26 PSV Eindhoven201112-11 W L 27 Viking201146-21 D L 28 Fenerbahe201117-61 D L 29 Inter200246-20 L L 30 FC Porto200225-30 L L 31 Slavia Praha200225-30 D L 32 Napoli200214-30 W L 33 Lask Linz200237-40 L L 34 Lille200226-40 L L 35 Galatasaray200227-50 L L 36 Slovan Bratislava200219-80 L L Position 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 : Promotion Champions League (Play Offs: 1/8-finals) Position 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 : Promotion Champions League (Play Offs: 1/16-finals) Mac Allister completes comeback as Ngumoha shinesLiverpool made a change at the interval, introducing Wirtz for Araujo, and immediately looked more dangerous.Ryan Gravenberch forced Gulacsi into a save after bursting into the penalty area, while Cody Gakpo also tested the goalkeeper with a low effort.Wirtz was heavily involved in Liverpools attacking play, although the German initially struggled to find a finishing touch after working his way into promising positions.Trey Nyoni then sent a powerful strike narrowly wide as the hosts continued to push for a third goal.The breakthrough finally arrived in the 65th minute, with Ngumoha once again at the heart of the move.The 18-year-old beat Cardona down the right and raced towards the byline before cutting the ball back for Mac Allister, who fired a first-time effort in off the crossbar.It was the midfielders second goal of the evening and completed Liverpools comeback from two goals behind.Three minutes later, the hosts appeared to have put the game beyond Villarreal.Tsimikas won possession and found Gakpo, who carried the ball into the penalty area before picking out Wirtz.The German guided a composed left-footed finish through Renato Veigas legs and into the bottom corner to make it 4-2.Ngumoha departed to a standing ovation shortly afterwards, having provided two assists in an outstanding display.The teenager became Liverpools youngest player to register a goal involvement in the Champions League, aged 18 years and 52 days.Villarreal refused to give up, however, and threatened through Pape Gueye before substitute Gerard Moreno curled an effort wide.The visitors then pulled another goal back in the 87th minute when Ayoze Perez reached the right byline and delivered a cross towards the far post.Oluwaseyi was left unmarked and converted with a first-time left-footed finish, reducing the deficit to 4-3.That set up a tense finish at Anfield, with Villarreal throwing players forward in search of an equaliser.Perez had one final opportunity in stoppage time but saw his effort from outside the area blocked by the first defender. Liverpool Villarreal 4 Goals 3 2.41 xG 1.54 53% Possession 47% 22 Total Shots 14 7 Shots on Target 5 8 Shots off Target 2 7 Corners 2 12 Fouls 10 2 Offsides 4 0 Yellow Cards 2 2 Saves 4 539 Passes 498 463 Passes Completed 415 86% Pass Accuracy 83% Home Away Upcoming fixtures for Liverpool and Villarreal Upcoming Fixtures : Liverpool Premier League Liverpool LIV 14:00 2026-10-25 Brighton BRI Premier League Liverpool LIV 16:30 2026-11-01 Arsenal ARS UEFA Champions League Fenerbahe FEN 17:45 2026-11-04 Liverpool LIV Premier League Crystal Palace CRY 15:00 2026-11-07 Liverpool LIV Premier League Liverpool LIV 15:00 2026-11-21 Manchester United MUN Upcoming Fixtures : Villarreal La Liga Valencia VAL 17:30 2026-10-24 Villarreal VIL La Liga Villarreal VIL 16:00 2026-11-01 Espanyol ESP UEFA Champions League Villarreal VIL 20:00 2026-11-03 Paris Saint Germain PSG La Liga Villarreal VIL 16:00 2026-11-08 Getafe GET La Liga Barcelona BAR 16:00 2026-11-22 Villarreal VIL Topics Liverpool F.C. 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