PSV Eindhoven notched up an astonishing 4-1 win at Anfield with a display of fearless, flowing football in the second half to deepen the sense of crisis engulfing Arne Slot’s Liverpool.

The Dutch champions went ahead through an early penalty, but were under the cosh for large parts of the first half as the home side took a stranglehold on the match.

Having weathered the storm, PSV came out fighting in the second half and retook the lead through Guus Til before substitute Couhaib Driouech netted twice to seal a famous victory.

Captain Jerdy Schouten told Ziggo Sport: “It’s abnormal. Brilliant, I’m so proud. Of course they had a lot of the ball, but we defended so well as a team and in the end we created the best chances.”

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was at the centre of the first-half action, starting with the penalty that he conceded when he raised an arm at a corner and made contact with the ball.

The referee waved away Van Dijk’s protests that he had been pushed by Schouten and Ivan Perisic sent Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way with a shot into the bottom right corner.

Ordeal

Liverpool levelled on 15 minutes when Cody Gakpo hit a shot which Matej Kovar parried straight into the middle and Dominik Szoboslai rolled the ball into the empty net.

PSV had the ball in the net shortly afterwards, but Yarek Gasiorowski’s effort was disallowed for offside, while Van Dijk picked up a yellow card for a late challenge on Ismael Saibari.

The rest of the first half was an ordeal for Peter Bosz’s side as Van Dijk headed a corner against the crossbar, Mo Salah just failed to connect with a Gakpo cross and the ever-dangerous Hugo Ekitike hit a shot that Kovar had to dive sharply to turn away.

PSV showed more intent as the second half got under way, with Sergino Dest breaking away down the right and finding Saibari in the middle with a cross that was just too deep for the midfielder to direct on goal.

But 10 minutes later the visitors were back in front. Mauro Junior skipped around Salah on the halfway line and served up an exquisite through-ball for Guus Til that the makeshift striker dispatched with the outside of his right boot.

Pepi returns

Bosz brought on Ricardo Pepi, who injured himself scoring the winner when these two teams met in Eindhoven in January, and Driouech to keep up the pressure on Liverpool’s defence.

And the move reaped dividends in the 73rd minute when Pepi cut inside from the left, held off two defenders and struck a shot that hit the base of the post before bouncing out to Driouech, who steered the ball into the corner.

As Liverpool fans began streaming out of the stadium Driouech supplied the coup de grace. Saibari and Dest combined on the right before the latter picked out the striker unmarked on the edge of the area and he curled a low shot past Mamardashvili’s right hand.

The result moves PSV up to 14th place in the Champions League table, with their next match a home fixture against Atletico Madrid on December 9.