Joel Matip’s late winner against Ajax gives struggling Liverpool lift-off in Champions League

Jurgen Klopp’s men had won just two of their opening seven games of the season, and suffered a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Napoli on matchday one.

Last season’s Champions League finalists were much more like their old selves but still needed a late winner from an unlikely source after Mohammed Kudus had cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s opener.

Victory takes Liverpool level on three points with Ajax and Napoli, who travel to Rangers in the other game in Group A on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).

The match was preceded with a minute’s silence to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Liverpool fans had booed the national anthem before winning both domestic cup finals last season, but any fears of a mass political protest were dispelled with only small band of individuals interrupting the moment of reflection.

On the field, Liverpool have had enough bad headlines to cope with so far this season.

Klopp described their demolition in southern Italy last week as the worst performance of his nearly seven years in charge.

A record-equalling defeat in the Champions League for Liverpool compounded an already poor start to the Premier League season.

But with Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota restored to the starting line-up after injuries, Liverpool were a far closer reflection of the side that came to within two games of a historic quadruple last season.

Jota’s inclusion came at the expense of Darwin Nunez as Liverpool’s new 80 million euro signing had to settle for a place on the bench for the second consecutive game.

The Portuguese international more than justified his inclusion, though, as he latched onto Luis Diaz’s header and teed up Salah to score his first goal in four games.

But the defensive deficiencies that have dogged Klopp’s men in the early months of the season were exposed for Ajax’s equaliser.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was again guilty of not tracking a runner as Steven Berguis broke down Ajax’s left and Kudus spun onto his cross before crashing in a shot off the underside of the bar.

Liverpool responded positively from that setback, but failed to make their dominance count for over an hour.

Remko Pasveer in the Ajax goal blocked efforts from Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Jota either side of half-time, but was not required to perform miracles.

Nunez was introduced along with Roberto Firmino for the final half-hour as Klopp threw caution to the wind with a front four also featuring Salah and Diaz.

That decision nearly backfired as Ajax were inches away from picking off the hosts on the counter-attack to leave their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.

Daley Blind nearly gave fans of his former club Manchester United something to cheer as his header drifted just wide.

Nunez has endured a far from stellar start to his Liverpool career after being sent off on his home debut for a headbutt on Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen.

The Uruguayan blew his big chance to silence the critics when he skewed wide with just Pasveer to beat eight minutes from time.

Moments later, Nunez nearly made amends when his dangerous low cross was deflected just out of the reach of Diaz.

Salah’s deflected shot then hit the woodwork, but just when it appeared Liverpool’s luck was out, they struck from the resulting corner.

Matip rose highest to meet Kostas Tsimikas’ corner and the ball had crossed the line before Dusan Tadic cleared.

Spurs stunned by Sporting

Antonio Conte admitted Tottenham got what they deserved as Paulinho’s last-gasp goal inspired Sporting Lisbon’s shock 2-0 win in the Champions League on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).

Conte’s side paid the price for some sloppy finishing and two pieces of dismal defending in stoppage-time at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.

Richarlison, Harry Kane and Emerson Royal were all unable to beat Sporting keeper Antonio Adan, while Son Heung-min’s goal-drought extended to eight games.

Tottenham were still on course for a point until the dramatic denouement as Paulinho headed home before Arthur Gomes danced through the defence to seal Sporting’s second successive Group D victory.

“It was a difficult result. When you lose the game you are not happy. I think that the game was unbalanced in the second half, we could score,” Conte said.

“We tried to win the game and then in the last 10 minutes we can do much better. They scored with a corner and we conceded the second goal after the 90 minutes.

“It is a pity. You have to try and feed the box and have accuracy and go strong to attack the goal.

“We had two or three situations where we can do much better. A difficult game for sure.”

It was a first loss in eight games in all competitions for Tottenham, putting a dampener on a fine run that included a 2-0 win against Marseille in their Champions League opener last week.

Tottenham will still expect to qualify for the knockout stages, but this defeat adds pressure on them to avoid another slip in their remaining group games.

With last weekend’s Premier League match at Manchester City postponed following last week’s death of Queen Elizabeth II, Tottenham looked rusty on their return to action.

After a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the Queen, Sporting, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt in their opening game last week, wasted little time setting the tempo.

Sporting’s Marcus Edwards was at Tottenham’s Academy from the age of eight and earned comparisons with Lionel Messi from then boss Mauricio Pochettino.

But north London-born Edwards only made one appearance in a League Cup game in 2016 before being allowed to leave three years later.

The 23-year-old has been revitalised since moving Portugal, earning a transfer to Sporting in January this year.

Edwards, who scored against Frankfurt, quickly reminded Tottenham of what they let go as he launched an early raid that ended with Pedro Goncalves’ shot forcing a good save from Hugo Lloris.

Richarlison had scored his first Tottenham goals since his summer move from Everton in the win against Marseille and the Brazilian tested Adan with a header from Ivan Perisic’s cross.

Fuelled by the chance to prove his point to Tottenham, Edwards carried Sporting’s main threat.

Edwards looked every inch the Messi clone when he embarked on a brilliant burst through the heart of the Tottenham defence on the stroke of half-time.

After playing a one-two with Trincao, Edwards was just six yards from goal with only Lloris to beat but the Tottenham keeper made a good save.

Emerson wasted a good chance when he failed to beat Adan with a close-range shot from Kane’s clever free-kick early in the second half.

Tottenham were beginning to heat up and Kane’s thunderous drive forced a fine save from Adan before Richarlison fired narrowly wide.

Kane was inches away from converting Perisic’s cross at the far post and Richarlison was off target with a headed chance.

Lloris looked to have saved Tottenham when he clawed away Pedro Porro’s curling strike in stoppage-time.

But from the resulting corner, Paulinho got in front of Kane to head the decisive goal.

Tottenham were shell-shocked and Gomes came off the bench to mark his Champions League debut with a superb solo strike as he jinked through the defence to shoot past Lloris.