Salah strikes at the death as relentless Liverpool edge resilient Burnley

Liverpool needed another late rescue act to protect a perfect start, as Mohamed Salah’s stoppage-time penalty sealed a 1-0 win that felt as cruel for Burnley as it was cathartic for the champions. The decisive moment arrived deep into added time when Jeremie Frimpong’s cross struck substitute Hannibal’s outstretched arm, leaving referee Michael Oliver with an uncomplicated decision and Salah with the chance to settle it.

Until then, Arne Slot’s side had dominated but not dazzled, monopolising the ball yet struggling to pierce Scott Parker’s massed defence. Burnley finished with 10 men after Lesley Ugochukwu’s late second yellow card, and while Martin Dubravka and a disciplined rearguard held out for almost the entirety, Liverpool’s persistence once more told at the last.

Parker’s trench warfare almost delivers the perfect plan

Burnley approached this assignment with a conservative blueprint that was executed with admirable discipline. Parker switched to a back five, even drafting central midfielder Josh Laurent into the line, and kept almost every claret shirt behind the ball. The press was sporadic, the line was deep, and space around the penalty area was fiercely denied as Liverpool enjoyed around 80–81% of possession without an early breakthrough.

There was even a flicker of threat on the counter when Jaidon Anthony fired over from the edge of the box. The Turf Moor crowd’s fury rose when Alexis Mac Allister took time to recover from Ugochukwu’s reckless challenge, which brought the midfielder’s first booking. The defensive discipline largely endured, but the plan grew more taxing as legs tired and Liverpool kept turning the screw.

Dominance without incision for the champions

For long stretches Liverpool’s control did not translate into clarity. Salah, Hugo Ekitiké and Cody Gakpo were not in sync, while Milos Kerkez was booked for a dive in search of a penalty and withdrawn for Andy Robertson in the 38th minute to avoid further jeopardy. Slot again had to proceed without record £125m signing Alexander Isak as the striker builds fitness.

After the interval, Conor Bradley injected energy from right-back and Florian Wirtz began to find angles on the edge of the area. Ryan Gravenberch flashed one over, Robertson burst into the box only to be denied by Dubravka, and Dominik Szoboszlai’s rising drive was expertly tipped over. When Federico Chiesa arrived, he immediately glanced a Robertson cross wide. The tide turned, but the finishing touch refused to arrive—until it did.

One reflex, one whistle, one point lost

Ugochukwu’s second booking for a foul on Wirtz left Burnley hanging on in the dying minutes. Then Frimpong arced in a cross, Hannibal turned his back and his elbow made contact. Oliver pointed to the spot, echoing the way a stoppage-time penalty had also undone Burnley at Old Trafford in their previous league outing. The defenders’ work for 90-plus minutes was undone in a single reflex.

Salah, who had not registered a shot before the incident, dispatched the penalty high beyond Dubravka. Pundits deemed the handball a needless moment under stress, the kind of lapse that pressure can induce in exhausted players. For Burnley, devastation; for Liverpool, familiar jubilation.

Relentless pattern, wider implications

The ending fit an emerging pattern. Liverpool have won each of their league games with goals inside the last 10 minutes: late strikes against Bournemouth, a 100th-minute winner by teenager Rio Ngumoha at Newcastle, and Dominik Szoboszlai’s late free-kick to beat Arsenal. They have not been at their slickest, but their resolve and the psychological weight of their pressure continue to shape matches.

The champions stay perfect and extend their scoring run to 38 matches as they turn to a Champions League opener against Atlético Madrid at Anfield, with Slot indicating that Isak will soon be involved. Burnley can take pride in how Kyle Walker, Maxime Esteve and debutant Florentino Luis embodied the plan, even as the outcome stung. Parker’s men host Nottingham Forest before a Carabao Cup tie with Cardiff City.