Isak’s second-half strike hands Liverpool victory on Iraola’s return to Bournemouth
Alexander Isak scored a second-half goal to give Liverpool victory over Bournemouth in the Premier League at Bournemouth on 20 September 2026, on Andoni Iraola’s return to the club.
Iraola, back at the stadium he left last season, embraced both current Bournemouth players and those he had managed previously as the game concluded; he had watched his former side’s European match earlier in the week and had vowed a businesslike return before stepping off one of the two Liverpool team coaches with a stern expression. Tommy Elphick, who captained Bournemouth to the Premier League in 2015 and followed Iraola to Liverpool, greeted former colleagues pitchside during the warm-up, and Dominik Szoboszlai and Milos Kerkez shared an embrace with Alex Toth. The walk along the front row of the home dugout was accompanied by the bass of Never Tear Us Apart, a moment that followed a smooth transition between Iraola and his successor: Rose and Iraola had spent an hour together on Iraola’s last day at Bournemouth’s training base, only stopping when Tiago Pinto, Bournemouth’s sporting director, interrupted.
The match itself produced a peculiar performance from Isak, whose second-half finish settled the game after an earlier first-time attempt ballooned high and wide; Cody Gakpo supplied the assist and remains the provider for all four of Isak’s goals this season. Pablo de la Torre, part of Iraola’s coaching staff at Bournemouth, intervened inside 30 seconds by wresting the ball from Adam Smith to delay a quick throw-in as the hosts sought to build on Thursday’s victory in the Basque Country.
Bournemouth created the clearest openings in the first half, Evanilson’s front-post flick was kept out by Alisson’s smart right-hand save and Djordje Petrovic parried a deflected Bradley Barcola shot with his legs. Szoboszlai curled a free-kick wide of Petrovic’s post, but Liverpool spent much of the opening 45 minutes defending against a side that attacked from several angles, as Iraola had anticipated.
There were three changes in Liverpool’s line-up from their stalemate with Fulham, one of which saw Milos Kerkez replace Kostas Tsimikas at left-back, and early in the second half Szoboszlai was booked for a foul on Alex Scott. As the Sweden striker pressed down the right flank, Iraola encouraged him with "Yes, yes," only for Isak’s cross to fly toward a corner of the ground where scaffolding is in place for stadium upgrades. Florian Wirtz had a disguised pass to Isak cut out and Bournemouth countered, with Jérémy Jacquet making it hard for Ryan Christie to meet a low front-post delivery.
The decisive sequence began when Christie chopped inside and Scott switched play with a diagonal pass; Gakpo then beat Adrien Truffert on the right and delivered a cross that James Hill dived to intercept at the front post, removing the immediate threat to Wirtz. The ball, however, fell to an unmarked Isak on the edge of the six-yard box and he stroked it into the net.
After the goal Bournemouth appeared to fade and Liverpool managed the remainder of the match to secure the three points; Iraola gestured at his players toward the scoreboard after they won a free-kick on halfway and, seconds later, the game was finished. The victory returned Liverpool to winning ways in the Premier League.
