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Liverpool not a team that 'pretends' to be injured - Slot
CommentsThe clock in the corner of the ground was showing 3.35pm, and The Kop was in raptures as Liverpool's number nine was mobbed by his team-mates.
Some 236 days after joining the club, Alexander Isak's long wait for his first home Premier League goal for Liverpool was finally over.
Isak set his side on the way to a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace with a shot into the ground that looped over goalkeeper Dean Henderson and into the net.
For the first time in a long time, the man who cost a British record £125m was smiling again on a day of firsts for Isak and Liverpool.
This was the Swede's first goal of 2026, and the first time the Reds have won a home league game he started.
"Did anyone ever think we would say this, eight or nine months ago, that at the end of April, Alexander Isak scored his first Liverpool league goal at Anfield?" asked manager Arne Slot after the game.
"That sums up this season a lot - that an unbelievable striker has had such a long time with injuries.
"It's really nice that he has scored because when we signed him we knew he could score goals."
But will this goal mark a turning point for the player whose first season at Anfield has been overshadowed by injuries and a loss of form?
Isak scores as Liverpool beat Palace to boost CL hopes
'Liverpool are going to need him back to his best'On the corresponding weekend last season, Isak scored for Newcastle United in a win that relegated Ipswich Town.
It was his 26th goal of a successful season that would help propel Eddie Howe's side into the Champions League.
He ended the campaign with 27, and a little over three months later joined Liverpool.
"I want to create history," said Isak, after an acrimonious move before which he had trained away from Newcastle's first-team squad.
"I want to win trophies. This is the perfect place for me to grow even further and take my game to the next level."
Yet that dream move has turned into something of a nightmare for both player and club.
Isak suffered a serious ankle injury in December that included a fractured fibula.
Prior to that he had been starting in place of Hugo Ekitike, who many fans thought deserved to be selected. There were suggestions Liverpool were struggling to fit Isak into their system.