On Saturday, May 20th, 2023, Roberto Firmino had a fitting end to his time at Anfield, rescuing a point for Liverpool in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. Liverpool waved goodbye to Firmino, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, while Jurgen Klopp watched from the stands. Liverpool had an early setback when Ibrahima Konate brought down Ollie Watkins in the box, but Alisson saved the penalty. Minutes later, Villa scored through Jacob Ramsey after a brilliant cross from Douglas Luiz. There were contentious calls in the first half when Tyrone Mings’ high boot collided with Cody Gakpo’s chest and when Jordan Henderson was clipped in the box, but no penalty was given.
In the second half, Liverpool had a goal disallowed by VAR when Gakpo scored. Villa fought hard and wasted time whenever possible, and Unai Emery had to substitute a substitute due to Alex Moreno’s injury. With just over 20 minutes left to play, Firmino and Milner came on for their final appearances at Anfield, while Kostas Tsimikas also entered the pitch. It took 17 minutes of being on the pitch for Firmino to equalise with an acrobatic finish from Mo Salah’s cross, keeping Liverpool in the Champions League hunt and marking his Anfield send-off in style. TIA Man of the Match was awarded to Roberto Firmino and the referee was John Brooks. Liverpool’s next match is away against Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday, May 28th at 4pm (BST).
