Liverpool drew first blood in the UEFA Champions League Group B and started their campaign collecting all three points.

And boss Jurgen Klopp labelled the victory “really great” as the Reds face one of the toughest groups in the competition with Athletico Madrid and Porto to come.

It was a thrilling game which saw an array of world class goals including brilliant team build up play on both sides.

Liverpool started strong and opened the scoring in the 9th minute as Trent Alexander Arnold’s brilliant play forced a Fikayo Tomori own goal.

Mo Salah’s penalty soon after was saved by Mike Maignan, and Milan showed their prowess as they scored two goals in quick succession on the stroke of half time, courtesy of Ante Rebic and Brahim Diaz.

The response at half time

Speaking on the reaction at half time, Klopp said: “I wasn’t angry at all, that’s just the job to do.

“I cannot celebrate for 30 minutes and then for 15 minutes I’m angry or whatever just to make sure we win the second half, that’s what we did and its all fine.”

On the two Milan goals, he added: “We saw it coming actually in the last five minutes in the last 15.

“So we tried to get the message across but it didn’t work because of the outstanding atmosphere in the stadium.

“So maybe just football-wise we lost the ball in the wrong moment, it was absolutely not necessary we could have played with three flexible triangles on the wings.

“It was really really good then we started getting a bit complicated.”

Liverpool responded well early into the second half as Mohamed Salah made amends for the penalty miss as he equalised, finishing off an impressive team goal before Jordan Henderson’s thunderbolt sealed the win for Liverpool.

Liverpool named a side with some surprising names both included and excluded in the starting XI. Virgil Van Dijk was left out for Joe Gomez and Divock Origi had replaced Sadio Mane.

On the inclusion of Divock Origi

After slowly becoming something of a forgotten man at the Reds, many had spoken about the shock inclusion of Divock Origi.

Klopp explained: “People have forgotten how good he is, and I’ve said it that it is really difficult to get into this team.

“That’s just how it is and I have to decide about different positions and who to bring on and how I want to react before a game.

“That’s why Divock was brought on, he trains, he gives everything and sometimes you still don’t make it into the squad.

“That really can happen especially when everyone is fit but for tonight he really was the right player to do it and he played really well.”

The importance of squad rotation

It is clear to see Klopp wanted to rest players by naming a number of changes.

And if last season is anything to go off, this will be important.

“We have to be sensible in these moments,” Klopp declared.

“We have these boys who have come back from long term injuries that can do it differently even if they are fit now which is great.

“And there was no big changes really, Naby Keita started already two or three games this year, this season.”

The Reds are top after one match of what many have labelled the “group of death”.

On the result

“They scored two goals in a moment like this the game can be decided,” added Klopp.

“But not tonight because we could adjust in our time and played again really good football and scored two wonderful goals.

“It is really great that we won this game tonight because obviously you need every point in this group to get through.”

Atletico Madrid were held to a goalless draw at home against FC Porto in a match most would have expected the Spaniards to win.

But there is no doubt that they will bounce back.

Causing problems for the Reds two years ago when they knocked Klopp’s men out of the Champions League, he understands the quality of Simeone’s side and the threats they possess.

A common foe for Liverpool in the Champions League, Porto have come up against the Reds twice under Jurgen Klopp’s reign.

Both meetings resulted in the Portuguese crashing out of the competition.

But they should still be treated as a great threat if last year’s competition is anything to go by when they dismantled Italian giants Juventus.

Liverpool’s next European trip is the return Estadio do Dragao on September 28 against Porto.