Anfield hero Ray Houghton has praised the passing ability of Ryan Gravenberch after the Reds’ new signing assisted Luis Diaz as Liverpool beat LASK in the Europa League.
The Merseyside outfit swooped late in the summer to make Gravenberch a Liverpool player. Bayern Munich agreed to sell the 21-year-old to Jurgen Klopp’s team for £34.5m on deadline day earlier this month. He had only moved to the Allianz Arena from AFC Ajax a year before.
Gravenberch showed real potential in Amsterdam after he emerged out of De Godenzonen’s academy at only 16. The midfielder enjoyed 103 senior appearances for the Eredivisie giants and offered 12 goals plus 13 assists. Yet his move to Bavaria did not yield the desired results.
Gravenberch enjoyed his first start for Liverpool away at LASK
Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel seldom relied on Gravenberch between their tenures at Bayern Munich last season. The 11-cap Netherlands international only started in six of his 34 appearances for 946 minutes in all competitions with the record Bundesliga champions.
Signing for Liverpool has already given Gravenberch a bigger presence having started in half of his outings so far. Klopp afforded the midfielder his Reds debut as a late substitute against Wolves in the Premier League. But he then started the Dutchman away to LASK on Thursday.
The Europa League tie also yielded a maiden Liverpool assist for Gravenberch as he fed Diaz to score at LASK. Diaz put the Reds in front in the 63rd minute after Darwin Nunez’s penalty in the 56th minute pulled them level. Florian Flecker (14’) had secured LASK a surprise lead.
Individual brilliance saw Mohamed Salah score at LASK to secure Liverpool all three points in the closing stages. While it was teamwork that led to Diaz firing home after a well-executed counter-attacking move. It started from a long ball up front to Nunez just inside LASK’s half.
Houghton took the spotlight away from Diaz and onto Gravenberch
Nunez fought well to win the duel before moving play onto Harvey Elliott out wide. He then found Gravenberch as Liverpool’s new recruit attacked the space LASK left vacant. His head was then always on a swivel to keep track of Diaz advancing into the area to move in front.
Two-time First Division champion with Liverpool, Houghton, loved the teamwork of Klopp’s side and the quality of Diaz’s strike to score from Gravenberch’s cross at LASK. But he took the spotlight away from the forward’s goal to praise the midfielder’s inch-perfect delivery.
Houghton said on talkSPORT: “Devastating, top quality from Liverpool. It was hit across the six-yard box with pace, goalkeeper had no chance, he fell to his knees and knew he could do nothing to keep it out. First-class finish from Diaz but a brilliant ball by Gravenberch.”
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