Federico decided the match against Bournemouth by scoring his first Premier League goal: “It pays off the hard work. Last year I arrived in a tough situation; at Juve I hadn’t trained for a month”
A flash of brilliance on the night at Anfield. How many times must Federico Chiesa have dreamed of this: celebrating in front of the Kop. Throughout the 2024-25 season, the former Juventus player had scored only twice, appearing in just 14 matches. His first goal came in the FA Cup, at home against Accrington—a 4-0 win in the 90th minute—not exactly memorable. The other, a meaningless one, came in the 94th minute of the Carabao Cup final, a 2-1 loss to Sandro Tonali’s Newcastle at Wembley. Friday’s goal was his first in the Premier League and came once again in “Chiesa territory,” in the 88th minute—a goal that allowed the Reds to regain the lead after Bournemouth had come back from a 0-2 deficit. Salah then added the icing on the cake in the 94th minute for the final 4-2 score, but it was Federico who decided the match, having come on in the 82nd minute to replace Florian Wirtz.
“My first thought after the goal went to Diogo Jota,” Chiesa later told Sky Sport, “to his brother, and to their whole family. It was a touching moment, especially winning like that. He helped me from up there to push that ball in; I want to believe that’s how it was. This goal makes all the hard work pay off. Last year, I can say I arrived in a tough spot; I hadn’t trained at Juve, and here I found myself struggling with a pace that was on another level. I don’t know why that decision was made, but not training for a month really held me back at Anfield. Slot has always encouraged me. I’m very happy at Liverpool; I’m at one of the strongest teams in the world, and the transfer window proved that too.“
slot— Reds manager Arne Slot also spoke about Chiesa in the post-match interview: ”The fans have sung for him so many times during the match and even last season; I think it’s really nice for him to give them something in return, and that’s certainly what he did today. When we needed him, he stepped up. That’s a positive sign for the club’s future.” There was an incredible atmosphere in the final minutes. I always thought winning the league here would be more special than winning a home game against Bournemouth, but those last six or seven minutes… wow. Wow, wow, wow. How impressive it was.”
