From the eye of the storm came a winner that could be fairly described as a goal from the gods.
Darwin Nunez had only been on the pitch for 10 minutes when he proved himself impervious to lashing sideways rain and galeforce winds on the Dorset coast to produce a spectacular curling finish and seal Liverpool’s place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
“An unbelievable goal,” said Jurgen Klopp of Nunez’s top corner finish, but it was also noticeable to witness the Liverpool manager’s face light up at the mention of his 20-year-old centre-back Jarell Quansah who, having been at the club since the age of five, is now threatening to deliver a breakthrough season.
Making only his fourth senior Liverpool start in the most demanding imaginable conditions, Quansah delivered another wonderfully composed performance that belied both his years and past senior experience until this season of only playing on loan for Bristol Rovers in League One.
“So many difficult balls to judge – he played a top game,” said Klopp. “It was really difficult for both teams. The wind changed the game and it is all about attitude in these moments. I saw how hard we really wanted it.”
Luis Diaz, understandably, was again out of the Liverpool squad following his father’s kidnapping in Colombia. There were also eight changes from the team that had beaten Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Sunday but, with options especially scarce just now in attack, there was still no resting Mohamed Salah.
It was only the fourth time that Salah had played in the competition during his entire Liverpool career but, even in such dreadful conditions, there was an industry and energy about his approach that set a standard for the rest of the Liverpool team.
With Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold named on the bench, Salah even had the rare accolade of being named Liverpool captain for the night and began in a slightly unfamiliar role as the main central striker between Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo.
There were only three changes from the Bournemouth team that had won a first Premier League match of the season against Burnley on Saturday and they were more fluid in the opening minutes when Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo both forced saves of Caoimhin Kelleher, who had replaced Alison in the Liverpool goal.
Having missed one wonderful chance, Harvey Elliott then fired another shot into the Bournemouth penalty area and, having first deflected the ball, Cody Gakpo followed in to put Liverpool into a half-time lead.
Bournemouth reemerged with greater purpose and, after Semenyo wasted a glorious chance to equalise and Marcus Travernier forced another save of Kelleher, they got the goal that their football had deserved. Kelleher and the rest of the Liverpool defence completely misjudged a high swirling cross but Kluivert remained astutely rooted to the far post before directing the simplest of headers into an empty net.
Klopp had only just introduced Nunez in attack alongside Salah and the Uruguay striker then chased down a speculative pass to the far edge of the touchline. It looked like an innocuous position but he suddenly changed pace to drive beyond Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham before arrowing a quite beautiful winner through the truly ugly weather.
