Liverpool win sets up emotional farewells but offers glimpse of bright future

Andy Robertson (left) scored possibly his last Liverpool goal as Alexander Isak (right) belatedly scored his first league goal at Anfield for the Reds (Getty)

A day of firsts at Anfield and maybe lasts, too. For the first time, their £100m men were twinned on the scoresheet as, for the first time, Alexander Isak struck for Liverpool in the Premier League at Anfield. Andy Robertson scored what is very likely to be his last one. One glorious era is ending, even if Liverpool have insufficient evidence so far that their colossal spending will herald the start of another.

It was about the old and the new. Florian Wirtz’s 96th-minute goal, classily hooked in from 12 yards, meant he and Isak scored in the same game, even if the Swede had gone off by then. Robertson’s strike meant the three scorers could have a combined cost of £249m, although he only accounts for £8m of it.

But emotional farewells beckon. Indeed, one may have to be fast-tracked. If this could have been the day when Mohamed Salah struck in front of the Kop for the last time, he instead limped off, applauding all four stands, a gesture that may have betrayed fears a suspected hamstring injury will rule him out of Liverpool’s last four matches. “We don’t know,” Arne Slot said. “Let’s hope for the best.”

Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool career may have come to a premature end (Getty)

For the departing duo of Salah and Robertson, the end is nigh. They seem likelier to leave a club with Champions League football. Anfield was ecstatic at times, anxious at others. Crystal Palace, so often their bogey club, could scarcely have been closer to an equaliser, with the substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen’s shot striking both posts.

But, well as they played, the historic feat of becoming the first team to beat Liverpool four times in a season eluded them. Instead, Wirtz delivered his first goal in 14 games and Liverpool are now eight points clear of sixth-place Brighton, perhaps only needing one more win for a top-five finish. “The Champions League is so important to this football club and we've made a big step,” said Robertson.

He represents an opposite to Isak and Wirtz, one of the great bargains in Liverpool’s modern history and the two most expensive arrivals. In the long term, Isak’s opener may prove the more significant goal. Yet the second felt more sentimental; there may be no more popular strike at Anfield this season for there have been few finer servants for Liverpool in the last decade than Robertson.

Andy Robertson has been one of Liverpool’s finest servants (PA)

Anfield erupted, the injured Alisson punched the air, after Liverpool went from one penalty area to the other, Ibrahima Konate, Wirtz and Curtis Jones combining for the Merseysider to release Robertson. And there, charging the length of the pitch, was Robertson, rolling back the years, rolling his shot past Dean Henderson. “A striker’s finish,” quipped the left-back. “Maybe I need to sit down Alex and Hugo [Ekitike] after that.” Though any lessons would be coming from a man with 14 goals in 376 games for Liverpool.

Yet if Robertson is a stranger to the scoresheet, Isak was not supposed to be. “Did anyone ever think we would say this eight or nine months ago, that Alexander Isak scored his first [league] goal for Liverpool at Anfield [in April]?” asked Slot. “That sums up this season. But it is really nice he has scored one. Many times this season we had better chances than we had today. That is why it is important to have players who can score goals like this.”

The opportunist in Isak controlled Alexis Mac Allister’s misdirected shot, turned and bobbled a shot past Dean Henderson.

Alexander Isak could belatedly celebrate a league goal for Liverpool at Anfield (PA Wire)

It was Isak’s first goal of 2026 and first since returning to fitness; if he has, given how little he moved initially. He had four touches before he scored. But after being a passenger, his predatory instincts awakened. Then he was more involved, to give Liverpool more optimism.

But the main ovations at the end were for Robertson and for Freddie Woodman, whose first Premier League start for Liverpool came against his boyhood club, was eventful and eventually triumphant. “The moment of the game was the lead-up to the 2-0 where Freddie made a big save or it would have been 1-1,” said Slot. The deputy for Alisson and Giorgi Mamardashvili saved well from Jean-Philippe Mateta’s header and, seconds later, Robertson struck. There was a second terrific stop to keep out Maxence Lacroix’s header. The Kop chorused “England’s No 1”.

Not quite but just as Liverpool’s third choice made a second fine save from Ismaila Sarr, he conceded in painful fashion. “My knee got stuck in the ground,” said Woodman, who went down. Daniel Munoz directed a chip into the unguarded goal. “The referee should stop the game,” claimed Slot, though Andy Madley was not obliged to.

Freddie Woodman was injured during Crystal Palace’s goal (PA)

Anfield booed but Palace manager Oliver Glasner argued Munoz was blameless. “With Daniel it was parallel – the keeper raises his arm at the same time he is about to shoot,” he said. He felt Madley made the right decision. “To demand the referee has to stop the game can be very dangerous for the future,” the Austrian said. “That wouldn’t be the best for football.”

Glasner was in touchline discussions with Slot and Virgil van Dijk and added: “For me, it was clear, the keeper gets up.” But there was an intriguing addendum amid suggestions Liverpool wanted Palace to let them score. “If he doesn’t and he has to be subbed then they could have definitely scored in our goal because then it would have been a serious injury.”

Woodman carried on – meaning Slot did not need to turn to fourth-choice goalkeeper Armin Pesci – and Munoz’s strike almost came at a further cost to Liverpool when Wharton released Strand Larsen. But, in the end, Liverpool did not need Palace to gift them a goal. Wirtz scored instead. So did Isak. That may make this an auspicious occasion. For Robertson and Woodman, anyway, it was a special one.