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Stoke 1-2 Liverpool: Highlights and recap

STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - APRIL 08: Roberto Firmino of Liverpool celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the Premier League match between Stoke City and Liverpool at Bet365 Stadium on April 8, 2017 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill Ltd/Getty Images)
STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - APRIL 08: Roberto Firmino of Liverpool celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the Premier League match between Stoke City and Liverpool at Bet365 Stadium on April 8, 2017 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill Ltd/Getty Images)

Liverpool beat Stoke 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, April 8. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp raised a lot of eyebrows ahead of his side’s trip to face Stoke on Saturday. Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge were all on the bench as youngsters Ben Woodburn and Trent Alexander-Arnold were handed starts in a 3-5-2 formation.

The Reds struggled early on, too, as Stoke took advantage of the uncertainty of their opponents. Xherdan Shaqiri, making a long-awaited return from injury, looked to have opened the scoring early on, but was correctly flagged for offside.

Liverpool settled down after the first 10 or so minutes, but barely threatened, settling instead of a series of long balls in the general direction of Divock Origi. Woodburn flashed quality on occasions, but overall the visitors didn’t impress.

Stoke took the lead shortly before halftime, when Jon Walters headed in a Shaqiri cross at the front post. The move was the result of a counterattack that started after Woodburn was brought down in the Potters’ penalty area.

Liverpool brought on Coutinho and Firmino at halftime and, predictably, looked much better after the break. The Reds finally took control of the midfield, and were rewarded for their dominance with a goal each from their two Brazilians.

Coutinho struck first with excellent finish drilled low into the bottom corner. Firmino followed it up with a powerful strike into the roof of the net.

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Highlights

Liverpool stay third after their comeback win, five points behind Tottenham and two ahead of Manchester City. Stoke are down in 13th, but could drop a place if Bournemouth beat Chelsea in the late kickoff.