Viewers frustrated as Virgin Media falters during Premier League opener

Virgin Media has acknowledged that some viewers experienced difficulties while trying to watch the opening match of the Premier League season on Friday night. Numerous fans voiced their complaints about the broadcast breaking up during the first half of the Liverpool vs Bournemouth match.

"We apologise to customers who experienced pixelation issues with their television services earlier this evening," a spokesperson for Virgin Media stated in a comment provided to Mirror Football. "Our teams worked swiftly to identify the fault and have now restored services to normal."

Hugo Ekitike scored on his Premier League debut for Liverpool, giving the defending champions a lead at half-time. However, this came after fans expressed their frustrations about their viewing experience.

"Anybody else's Virgin Media just gone mad. Pixelation on every channel?" one wrote. "Missed the Liverpool goal due to me having to restart the box thinking that might sort it. @virginmedia sort it out," said another.

"Very poor," said a third. "Will I get my refund "As soon as possible". But not before the football finishes."

It was an action-packed first half, with Ekitike one of four new signings to start for Liverpool. Florian Wirtz went straight into the starting XI after his club record move from Bayer Leverkusen, while there were league debuts for full-backs Milos Kerkez - against his former club - and Jeremie Frimpong.

"The one player that I have noticed that is struggling a bit but he needs to get up to the speed and the physicality of the play is Florian Wirtz," former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock said of Wirtz during BBC Radio 5 Live's coverage. "You are looking at him thinking, he just needs to be aware of players coming off his shoulder and nicking the ball off him. The game is a lot quicker here than in the Bundesliga."

Liverpool saw an appeal for a red card denied in the opening 15 minutes after Marcos Senesi avoided punishment for handball. "The referee's call of no red card to Senesi was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action deemed not to be a clear handball offence nor denial of a goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO), due to the distance from goal," the Premier League Match Centre account wrote on social media.

Bournemouth were also left frustrated by some officiating moments before the break. Alex Scott went down in the area after a coming-together with Alexis Mac Allister but neither on-field ref Anthony Taylor nor the VAR official felt the Cherries deserved a penalty for the incident.

It was 1-0 at the break, but Liverpool doubled their lead minutes after the restart. Ekitike was involved again, holding the ball up before feeding Cody Gakpo who cut inside before finding the bottom corner.