Alexander Isak had waited since the international break for a recall, and when it finally came at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, he needed only twenty minutes on the pitch to make it count. His 70th minute finish, turning in Bradley Barcola’s knockdown after Alexis Mac Allister’s back post cross, completed a 2-1 comeback win for Liverpool against a Brentford side who finished the afternoon with nine men. For a player whose move to Anfield has so far brought more frustration than joy, it was the kind of moment his £125 million fee was supposed to buy.
Isak’s return could not have been better timed. Liverpool arrived at Brentford still shaking off a chastening 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City the previous weekend, a game that also saw Ryan Gravenberch sent off. Andoni Iraola’s side needed a response, and getting one without their record signing fully fit would have been a tall order given how threadbare their forward options have looked in recent weeks.
A troubled first chapter
To understand why Saturday mattered so much, it helps to remember how difficult Isak’s time in England has been since leaving Newcastle United last summer. His move followed a long and public transfer saga, and he arrived at Liverpool as one of the most feared strikers in the Premier League, fresh off a 2024-25 season in which he scored 27 goals and added six assists in 42 appearances for Newcastle. Little of that form travelled south. A broken leg and a string of fitness setbacks meant he barely resembled that player during his first season at Anfield, managing just four goals and a single assist across 22 appearances under then manager Arne Slot.
Slot left Liverpool in June, with the club having endured a campaign widely regarded as one to forget. Speaking from Sweden’s training camp at the time, Isak said it was “sad” to see a coach leave, admitted he did not know the full story behind the departure, wished his old manager all the best, and reflected that a head coach is “usually the first position to change when things go badly.”
A new manager, the same waiting game
Andoni Iraola’s appointment in the summer gave Liverpool a fresh identity, but it did not immediately solve Isak’s fitness problems. The Swede picked up a thigh issue during the most recent international break, one of several niggles to hit Iraola’s squad alongside similar knocks for Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai. Asked about the trio before the Brentford trip, Iraola was cautious rather than committal, saying: “It’s early for us to say, we have to train tomorrow. They were not ready, so we have to wait and see.”
That caution extended into matchday itself. Isak was named among the substitutes rather than risked from the start, and Liverpool had to do much of the hard work without him. Brentford led through Keane Lewis-Potter’s header from an Igor Thiago cross right at the end of the first half, converted in the eighth minute of stoppage time. Liverpool had already seen a first half penalty award overturned on review, after Dango Ouattara was adjudged to have touched the ball before his challenge on Mac Allister.
Nine men and one night at the Gtech
The afternoon turned on a run of incidents inside a frantic second half. Victor Muñoz levelled just after the hour, cutting inside to finish a Florian Wirtz through ball, before Brentford’s discipline unravelled. Yehor Yarmoliuk was sent off in first half stoppage time for a headbutting incident on Jeremie Jacquet, identified by VAR, and Vitaly Janelt followed him down the tunnel in the final minutes for a second yellow card after tripping substitute Rio Ngumoha. By the time Isak arrived off the bench, Brentford were already down to ten men and fading fast, and his finish arrived with the hosts still searching for a way back to level terms before Janelt’s dismissal left them with nine.
Brentford were not without their own chances to make the afternoon uncomfortable for Liverpool. Thiago spurned a good opportunity to equalise shortly after Isak’s goal, and Barcola’s curling effort cannoned back off the Brentford crossbar late on as Liverpool pushed to settle the contest. It was far from the comfortable finish the scoreline might suggest, but it was enough.
What it means for both clubs
For Liverpool, the result moves them back above Brentford and up to fifth in the Premier League table, a timely response after the Manchester City defeat, with Brentford slipping to sixth as a result. The injury picture remains a concern, with Szoboszlai forced off before half time and Jeremie Frimpong lasting barely seven minutes after coming on, both adding to a list that already included Isak and Gakpo before Saturday. Iraola will hope this is the week his squad begins to come back together rather than falling further apart.
For Brentford, it is a first defeat of the season and an afternoon that will sting beyond the scoreline. Two red cards in the space of fifty minutes point to a discipline problem as much as a footballing one, and losing players to suspension in the weeks ahead will test squad depth that has otherwise served them well this season.
For Isak, though, Saturday offered something more valuable than three points. After a debut season defined by setbacks and a managerial change that left him starting again from nothing, a winning goal on his return from injury is precisely the kind of afternoon that can start to change a narrative. Whether it proves the turning point remains to be seen, but for the first time in a while, the story around Liverpool’s record signing was about what he did on the pitch rather than what kept him off it.
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