Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth: Premier League Match Report and Player Ratings

Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth: Match Report and Player Ratings

Liverpool kicked off their crown-defending 2025/26 season in style, extending the league's record unbeaten run in opening games to 13, following a stunning late victory against Bournemouth at Anfield in the Premier League's curtain-raiser, in a match where all players wore black armbands in memory of Diogo Jota.

A debut goal from Hugo Ekitike was followed in the second half by a fine Cody Gakpo effort, but Bournemouth clawed themselves back to parity through the fine efforts of Antoine Semenyo, who bagged a brace to even the honours. It was up for forgotten man Federico Chiesa to score his first ever Premier League goal in the 88th minute, and a 94th minute sealer from Mohammed Salah to continue his phenomenal opening day run of goals, for Liverpool to shake off the scare and secure an early three points.

Liverpool Survive Scare to Breeze by Bournemouth

Before the game commenced, Reds fans held up a banner to pay tribute to the late Jota and his brother Andre Silva, with the stadium also sharing a minute's silence prior to the first whistle. Jota's name was chanted as the game reached the 20th minute as a tribute to all his contributions throughout his five seasons in Merseyside.

In a game made bleaker by a disappointing moment, wherein Antoine Semenyo was subjected to vile racist abuse, it was Liverpool who took the early share of the spoils. The first 15 minutes were very end to end as both teams settled any pre-season nerves, and it took 37 minutes for the 2024/25 Champions to take their first step toward retaining their crown as debutant Hugo Ekitike exploited a gap in the Cherries defence to find the bottom-right corner.

❤️ An emotional celebration from Mo Salah. pic.twitter.com/Q3ciFryWKN

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) August 15, 2025

Anfield would soon be on it's feet again, as it took Liverpool just 4 minutes to find their second goal after half-time, as Cody Gakpo fired a low-driven shot into the corner after some incisive solo play. The Cherries halved the deficit through Semenyo after a well-orchestrated counter-attack down the left hand side and, with 15 minutes to go, Bournemouth managed to tie the arrears through Semenyo's second on the night - a dazzling, powerful solo drive before flashing a low drive beyond a helpless Alisson from the edge of the area.

Liverpool needed a hero from the bench to get themselves back ahead, and he came in the form of Federico Chiesa, who struck a dagger through the Cherries late on with a magnificent half-volley for the game winner.

Mo Salah would be on hand to score his annual opening day goal, as if that would ever be in doubt, striking home his record-extending 10th goal on the opening weekend to seal victory and provide an excellent early gift to the Kop.

Match Highlights

Liverpool Player Ratings

Alisson Becker - 6/10

He became the first Liverpool goalkeeper since Pepe Reina to reach 300 appearances on Friday evening, and was not to blame for either of Bournemouth's goals on the night.

Milos Kerkez - 5/10

A bit indecisive at times, the Hungarian dived into multiple poorly-timed challenges. A rather shaky debut.

Virgil van Dijk - 7/10

Outstanding as usual for the Reds, making key interceptions and getting onto the end of numerous crosses in the Cherries box. The defensive stalwart put the end to many Cherries opportunities and had to make up Konate's poor positioning at times, a task that proved too tough at times.

Ibrahima Konate - 4/10

Konate took a while to wake up, playing some very loose passes at times, and not looking comfortable on the ball at all in the opening periods. The Frenchman was not alert enough on Friday evening after just shadowing Semenyo for far too long for Bournemouth's second goal.

Jeremie Frimpong - 6/10

It was a rather quiet debut for Frimpong. However, that is sometimes a good thing, as he didn't do anything wrong. Although defending isn't his strongest suit, he showed he could hold his own defensively during his time on the pitch.

Fantasy Football owners seeing Kerkez & Frimpong substituted with 59:36 on the clock, 2-0 up 🥹

Seconds away from 6 points but ending up with 1...

Welcome back. pic.twitter.com/Xke5TjEjM9

— The Betting Village (@bettingvillage) August 15, 2025

Dominik Szoboszlai - 7/10

Szoboszlai barely stepped a foot wrong in the midfield, winning tackles and making recoveries and clearances to disallow Bournemouth of any scraps at goal for the most part. Couldn't help either goal from Semenyo.

Alexis Mac Allister - 7/10

Played the ball which produced the opening goal of the season. The Argentine was the key to turn defence into attack, playing several passes into the final third.

Cody Gakpo - 7/10

The Dutch forward had a quiet first-half but was brought to life rapidly in the second 45, as he struck a fierce strike past Petrovic to double their lead.

Florian Wirtz - 7/10

The clubs record signing took no time to settle, stringing pass after pass to create chances. Wirtz was very unlucky to not produce an attacking return.

Mohamed Salah - 7/10

A quiet start for the Egyptian, but he had to have his say. A fine goal right at the death to settle any skittish nerves around Anfield.

Mohamed Salah is the first player in Premier League history to score 🔟 opening day goals 👑 pic.twitter.com/QilKqPVLxY

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 15, 2025

Hugo Ekitike - 9/10

His opening strike showed a nice taste of what Liverpool forked out for, opening the scoring with a lovely placed effort, as the Frenchman made a statement for the starting role, despite strong links to Alexander Isak.

Sub - Andrew Robertson - 6/10

Managed to get a few attacking sprints in, but wasn't troubled much.

Sub - Wataru Endo - 6/10

Did his job in the midfield, completing an impressive amount of his passes.

Sub - Curtis Jones - 6/10

Created a half-chance and won his duel. Didn't have too much time for anything else.

Sub - Joe Gomez - 6/10

Calm coming in, and played some good progressive passes to help the Reds push for a winner.

Sub - Federico Chiesa - 8/10

Excellent rebound goal to give Liverpool a stunning victory, with Salah wrapping things soon after.

FEDERICO CHIESA SCORES HIS FIRST PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL! LIVERPOOL LEAD AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/X8V0354w0T

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 15, 2025

Bournemouth Player Ratings

Djordje Petrovic - 6/10

The Serbian continued his great form from Strasbourg last season, as he was forced into some heavy action early on, having to dive at full stretch to deny Salah and providing a couple of high claims. He could not have done much for any of the host's goals.

Adrien Truffert - 6/10

The French full-back was almost caught napping at the start, but made some good darting runs down the left to create some strong chances of his own.

Marcos Senesi - 4/10

The Argentine was poor for the hosts' opening strike, as he failed to intercept Ekitike. Likely should have been dismissed not long before that, deliberately swiping the ball away from a goal-bound Ekitike not long before the opening goal.

VAR says no, but @Carra23 was convinced that was handball 🧐 pic.twitter.com/kS8hOEwn7s

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 15, 2025

Bafode Diakite - 7/10

One of the Cherries' summer signings did play quite well despite not having much time to be integrated into Andoni Iraola's system.

Adam Smith - 5/10

The captain made a number of half-inviting balls into the box, but he struggled to find any consistency with its destination.

Alex Scott - 6/10

The U21 Euros winner got stuck in, winning the majority of his duels.

Tyler Adams - 8/10

The American midfielder played the brilliant ball down the left side which resulted in the goal and he disrupted many Reds attacks through defensive actions.

Antoine Semenyo - 9/10

Semenyo was an absolute nuisance on the ball in the middle of the park, drawing multiple fouls on Liverpool defenders, especially Kerkez who dived in several times. Produced an excellent forward drive to exploit an open Liverpool to tie the score.

Antoine Semenyo. First game of the season and dropped what could be its most powerful performance. Was subjected to racial abuse in the first half but refused to let that be the story. Don’t underestimate how much strength this took. pic.twitter.com/gyXVJLhfS1

— VERSUS (@vsrsus) August 15, 2025

Marcus Tavernier - 6/10

Struck a weak shot on goal with perhaps their best chance of the half in the opening period. Not too much else to talk about here.

David Brooks - 7/10

Whipped in some dangerous and precise balls from set-pieces, causing some issues for Liverpool. Grabbed the assist for Semenyo's first with a gorgeous ball from the left.

Evanilson - 6/10

The Cherries' number 9 found himself in very good areas throughout the second half, taking advantage of Konate's poor positioning at the back. Wasn't able to form that into anything too troubling however.

Sub - Hamed Traore - 6/10

Good pass to Semenyo, he was allocated the assist but it was much more down to the scorer.

Sub - Ben Winterburn - N/A

Was not on long enough to make an impact.

Sub - Eli Junior Kroupi - N/A

Not on long enough to make an impact.

Sub - James Hill - N/A

Not on long enough to make an impact.

Player of the Match - Hugo Ekitike

Hugo Ekitike rewarding the managers that backed him with a debut goal🤝 pic.twitter.com/cWAMGvRMlf

— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) August 15, 2025

We could have given this to Semenyo quite easily, but Ekitike played a superb role in this victory. He produced a fantastic goal to open his account at Anfield, before adding an assist to name which resulted in a second goal for his side.