Willian shares what Liverpool constantly do which makes them so difficult to play against

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Fulham forward Willian has opened up on the difficulty of playing against Liverpool at Anfield.

As he so often has been, Willian was a thorn in the Reds’ side last night. It was the Brazilian who opened the scoring for Fulham in the 19th minute, before Liverpool’s substitutes turned the game around.

That goal was the fourth that he’s scored against the Reds throughout his career. But despite his relatively good record when facing them, Willian told fulhamfc.com after Wednesday’s game that the way Liverpool play makes it so hard to come up against them. Especially at Anfield.

“It’s not easy to play here against them!” smiled the 35-year-old.

“When they equalised, the game becomes even more difficult because they push more, they put pressure, they come more fast, always try to go direct to the goal and then they score the second one. But nothing’s finished and we have to think about the next one [second leg].”

Willian gives Liverpool credit

By the sounds of it, there is plenty of mutual respect between Liverpool and Willian.

Jurgen Klopp has previously spoken very highly indeed of the former Chelsea man. Before the Reds took on Fulham in December, Klopp labelled Willian as one of the best players in Premier League history [talkSPORT]. That might be a stretch, but he has been a terrific player for a long time now.

What could have been had the former Brazil international signed for Liverpool instead of the Blues back in 2013.

Steven Gerrard reportedly attempted to convince Willian to join from Shakhtar Donetsk all those years ago [Sky Sports]. But he wanted Chelsea.

From then on, the forward seemed to make it his life’s mission to make things difficult for Liverpool. As a result, it was no surprise to see him scoring at the Kop end last night.

Typically, it was a really well taken goal. And in fairness to Fulham, they were good value for it. Having capitulated in the dying minutes at Anfield barely a month ago, it looked as though they’d learned lessons from that.

But as Willian mentions, the pressure just gets to you at this ground. Urged on by a baying crowd, Liverpool pushed and pushed and blew the house – or perhaps the cottage – down.

Still, 2-1 is a respectable result for Fulham to take into the second-leg. You could see by the way the Reds pushed on and on that they felt like another goal might be needed.

With Anfield out of the way, the Cottagers will fancy themselves to have a good go at the very least in two weeks time. Again though, Liverpool will be there and they’ll be making life just as difficult as they can. Another duel with Willian awaits.