6 minSports
Monaco rallies from two goals down to beat Liverpool 3-2 at Anfield
Liverpool led through Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, but Monaco answered with goals from Aleksandr Golovin, Mika Biereth and Paris Brunner in a preseason comeback.
AS Monaco rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Liverpool 3-2 in a preseason friendly at Anfield on Sunday, handing Andoni Iraola a defeat in his first match in Liverpool’s home dugout. Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz put the hosts in control before Monaco scored three straight, including Paris Brunner’s 88th-minute winner.
Liverpool opened the scoring in the 16th minute through Isak and doubled the lead in the 29th through Wirtz. The hosts played with greater intensity during the opening half hour and frequently forced Monaco backward. The early sequence offered a clear view of the high-tempo approach Iraola has been implementing since becoming Liverpool head coach in June.
Monaco reduced the deficit just before halftime. Virgil van Dijk was penalized for a foul on Aleksandr Golovin, and Golovin converted the penalty in the 44th minute. The goal sent the visitors into halftime trailing 2-1 rather than facing a two-goal gap.
The equalizer arrived in the 56th minute. Mika Biereth had an initial attempt stopped but followed the rebound and scored to make it 2-2. Both teams made extensive substitutions during the second half, changing the shape and rhythm of the game. Monaco handled the rotations more effectively and created the clearer late pressure.
Brunner supplied the winner in the 88th minute. Monaco sent a corner into the Liverpool penalty area from the left, and the forward met it with a header. Liverpool had little time to recover, and Monaco closed out the 3-2 victory.
Iraola became Liverpool head coach on June 4, replacing Arne Slot. The Monaco match was his first at Anfield from the home bench. In his postgame assessment, he pointed to Liverpool’s inability to sustain its early intensity after substitutions and as players tired. He described the decline from the strong opening phase as an area requiring further work before competitive matches begin.
The result followed another preseason game in which Liverpool lost a two-goal lead. Leeds defeated Liverpool 4-2 in Chicago after the Reds had gone 2-0 up. Friendly results do not carry points, but the similar pattern gives Liverpool’s staff a specific issue to address during the remaining preparation period.
Monaco are also adjusting to a new coach. The Ligue 1 club appointed Filipe Luís on July 6. Its trip to Anfield was scheduled as part of a six-day training camp in England from August 8 to 14. The comeback provided the new staff with evidence that the squad could respond to an adverse scoreline and maintain pressure after rotation.
The fixture renewed a matchup that had been dormant for more than two decades. Liverpool and Monaco last met in the group stage of the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League, the season in which Liverpool went on to win the competition. Sunday’s game carried no comparable stakes, but the five-goal comeback gave the reunion a competitive edge.
Liverpool’s next Anfield preseason opponent is Como 1907 on August 16. For Iraola, the final phase of preparation now has a clear focus: extend the quality of the first 30 minutes, improve the team’s response to changes in personnel and avoid the late defensive breakdowns that allowed Monaco to turn a 2-0 deficit into a win.
The sequence of Monaco’s goals helps explain why the comeback was more than a single late mistake. Golovin’s penalty cut the deficit before halftime, Biereth’s rebound punished a second-phase defensive moment, and Brunner’s header came from a set piece. Liverpool were beaten in three different types of situation, giving the coaching staff multiple areas to review.
At the same time, the first half should not be lost in the result. Liverpool’s early attacking play showed that the new coaching ideas can create high-quality pressure and quick entries into dangerous areas. The challenge is continuity. A strong team must keep its tactical identity when substitutions change the personnel and when an opponent begins to respond.
The second consecutive blown 2-0 lead gives that continuity issue added importance. It is too early to call it a season-long trend, especially in friendlies with heavy rotation. But it provides a clear preseason benchmark. Liverpool can use the Como game to test whether the same game state is managed differently one week later.
For Monaco, the match is a positive step in Filipe Luís’s early work. The new coach saw his players stay composed after a poor opening, improve through substitutions and find a late winner. In preseason, those responses can influence selection because they show which players can execute the plan when the game is unstable.
The score will disappear from the standings because there are no standings for this game. The lessons will not. Liverpool left Anfield with evidence of attacking potential and second-half fragility; Monaco left with evidence that its new group can recover from adversity. That makes the friendly useful for both sides despite the very different emotions attached to 3-2.
