With a 2-1 win against Lille at Anfield, Liverpool tightened their grip on top spot in the Champions League with a seventh straight victory.
Mohamed Salah’s first-half strike put Arne Slott’s side on top and although there was a surprise when Jonathan David equalized shortly after Lille were reduced to 10 following Aissa Mandi’s red card, Harvey Elliott’s deflected shot won the game.
Barcelona’s dramatic 5-4 away win at Benfica means Liverpool still need one more point to secure top spot, but no-one can now surpass their tally of 21 points after seven straight wins. Not a bad feat considering Lille were on a 21 game unbeaten run.
Slott managed to rotate some stars, replacing Ryan Gravenberch at half-time and introducing Trent Alexander-Arnold late on, and can now go to PSV for the final game knowing a draw will be enough for the side who remain Champions League favourites.
Player of the match: Mohamed Salah
After becoming the first Liverpool player to score 50 goals in Europe, Mohamed Salah told Amazon Prime:
“I hope I’m not the last. Before the game I wasn’t focused on the record. That’s something I’m very happy and proud of, especially since we won the game, that’s the most important thing.
“Lille had a very good game plan, they were unbeaten for 21 games and they were a tough team. They showed that in the first and second half, so I’ll give them credit, but I’m glad we managed to win.”
Salah on the similarities between this Liverpool squad and the 2019 Champions League winners under Jurgen Klopp:
“It’s different. Different coach, different players. We have four, five or six left from that team, but we have good talent, players who work very hard and a manager with good ideas. We’ll just try and see.”
Slot ‘more impressed than the crowd’
Liverpool head coach Arne Slott speaking with Amazon Prime:
“We are happy to be in the top eight. That’s the only thing that tells me something because this league table doesn’t tell.
“Usually in tennis, if you’re number one if you play number 24, you know they’re not as good as number 16, but because we’re playing different teams, maybe number 24 is better than number 16.
“We want to be at the top of the league, but we have to wait and see if it’s an advantage.
“As a manager I’m a bit more impressed than I think the crowd, who maybe thought it was just Lille. But I knew they were 21 games unbeaten. They beat Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and, with all due respect, they did it without the best players in the world .
“That tells you that they are very well organized and difficult to beat. They are a hard-working team, so it wasn’t easy. I was pleased with the patience we had, we didn’t force difficult passes, but we kept the ball and had complete dominance.
“The only thing I wasn’t happy with was that for several weeks there was one chance conceded, one goal conceded.”
The story of the match in statistics
What is coming in the Champions League?
