A teenager from Vigo rescues Liverpool

Straight

A Galician teenager born in October 2004 put the signature to Liverpool's victory at Villa Park (1-3).

When his team suffered the most, fifteen minutes from time, Klopp called Stefan Bajcetic Maquieira, who scored with the first ball he touched.

Son of a Serbian footballer who was nicknamed the

, who passed without leaving a trace for a Celta nineties and ended up settling in Vigo and in the sports structure of the club.

This new Bajcetic was a first-year youth when he played for the sky-blue club and Liverpool recruited him two years ago now to convert him from a central midfielder.

And, with his class and arrival, he enjoyed Boxing Day like few others, in which Arsenal closed the day with a hard-fought comeback over West Ham (3-1) to become strong in the lead, which the Anfield team has left to 15 points.

Without Gabriel Jesus, injured, the team led by Arteta went behind at half-time, but did not falter and scored three goals through Saka, Martinelli and Nketiah.

ASTON Villa

1

Robin Olsen, Digne, Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa Ngoyo, Ashley Young, McGinn, Emi Buendía (Ings, min. 85), Boubacar Kamara (Coutinho, min. 85), Douglas Luiz, Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey (Leander Dendoncker, min. .85)

LIV Liverpool

3

Alisson, A. Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold (Joe Gomez, min. 78), Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho, Henderson (S. Bajcetic, min. 78), Thiago (Naby Keita, min. 66), Salah, Darwin Núñez (Ben Doak, min. 87) and Oxlade-Chamberlain (Harvey Elliot, min. 66)

Goals

0-1 min.

5: Salah.

0-2 min.

37: Virgil Van Dijk.

1-2 min.

58: Ollie Watkins.

1-3 min.

80: S. Bajcetic.

Referee

Paul Tierney

Damaged as it is by its bad start to the championship, with uncertainties in the offices due to the possible arrival of some new owners, recently also eliminated from the League Cup, Liverpool resumed the Premier League with a win at Aston Villa's home and is close to fourth place, where Tottenham is, five points behind and with one more game.

Shortly after finishing the match in Birmingham, PSV Eindhoven announced an agreement to transfer Dutch striker Cody Gakpo to Jürgen Klopp's team.

The double duel of the Champions League round of 16 against Real Madrid is already on the horizon, which they will receive at Anfield on February 21 before paying a visit on March 15.

But the first objective is fourth place.

A Salah goal put Liverpool ahead after five minutes.

Before the break it was Van Dijk who increased the advantage after another maneuver by Salah.

Liverpool had legs to adjust their high pressure, but Villa found resources to skip the ambush.

And it got better after the break.

Watkins closed the gap with more than half an hour to play.

At Villa, Dibu Martínez, still on vacation in Argentina, did not enlist under the sticks.

But he had plenty of nerve for Emery's team, who went towards Liverpool with his opponent's weapons: he pressed up, took the ball from him and forced him to chase.

In that situation, Klopp looked for breath, called Bajcetic and everything became clear.

The Galician footballer is the second youngest Spaniard to score in the English League, after Cesc Fábregas, and the third newest to score for Liverpool since the Premier League existed because only Owen and Sterling surpass him.

A GOAL THAT WILL NEVER FORGET!

🔥 His first as a professional!

😍

He is 18 years old... BUT WHAT 18 YEARS OLD!

💎 Stefan Bajcetic Maquieira, a talent from Vigo at the service of Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool ✨#PremierLeagueDAZN ⚽ 🏴 twitter.com/5FtnsacBKs

— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) December 26, 2022

Another Spaniard, Julen Lopetegui, made his Premier League debut with a victory that took Wolverhampton out of the bottom of the standings, an agony that was relieved in the fifth minute of added time and unexpectedly.

Everton had had chances to win a game in which they had taken the lead through Yerry Mina, although then the Portuguese Podence tied.

But in that epilogue, Everton began to play horizontally in midfield against a withdrawn rival.

The stands went crazy.

So the center-back Tarkowski sent a ball to the peak of the area that divided possession of the ball and served for the Wolves to put together a counter in which the Algerian full-back Aït-Nouri holed into the net (1-2).

Goodison Park roared again, but this time against Frank Lampard, who is in doubt with the team on the brink of relegation.

In the last place in the standings was Newcastle just a year ago.

Less than two months earlier, a public investment fund in Saudi Arabia paid 350 million euros to take control of the club, which was immediately labeled "the richest in the world."

Since then, the club went to the market to make some essential touch-ups, but it has by no means broken the bank.

His biggest investment, Alexander Isak, which cost 72.6 million, has barely been able to participate due to an injury that has kept him out of the team since the end of September.

But he has found a guide in coach Eddie Howe and today the team is second in the Premier (one point above Manchester City, with two fewer games) after winning 21 of the 35 games in one year.

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