There were two minutes of normal time remaining when Daniel Sturridge – so new to the game there could not have been a scuff of grass on his kit – let fly with an elegant swish of his left boot. Liverpool had given everything to conjure up an equaliser and Sturridge struck just as it had started to seem futile. His goal was a beauty and the body language of Jürgen Klopp’s players at the final whistle made it clear they could live with giving up their immaculate run in the Premier League.
Nobody could argue, either, that it was undeserved, bearing in mind the number of chances Liverpool passed up before Sturridge deceived Kepa Arrizabalaga, the Chelsea goalkeeper, with the swerve and trajectory of his high, angled shot.Mohamed Salah, one of the repeat offenders, had already left the game by that point, substituted on an evening when he missed more chances than he will probably wish to remember. His replacement, Xherdan Shaqiri, proceeded to squander his side’s most inviting chance and, at that stage, it seemed as though the only consolation for Liverpool could be that it was another six months before they were due to face Eden Hazard again.
Full Highlights: Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool
Twice, they have faced Chelsea in four days and on both occasions Hazard has advanced the point that, while Liverpool have their own elite performers, none is currently playing with his level of expertise. Again, Hazard scored a classy goal to emphasise the point.
Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened
He was always alive, the game’s outstanding performer, and on this evidence Chelsea’s supporters should probably just cherish him while they can. In one television interview, Hazard acknowledged what everyone probably knew anyway: that, yes, he had wanted to leave after the World Cup and it was still his ambition to play in Spain.