Liverpool’s formidable form in the Champions League continued with a comfortable victory over Lille.
The 2-1 win made sure that Liverpool automatically qualified for the last 16 and avoided having to progress through two-legged play-offs — the situation that will face the teams finishing ninth to 24th in the league.
Mohamed Salah, who hadn’t found the net in his previous three games, scored the opening goal with a neat finish from a Curtis Jones pass for his 50th European goal for the club.
Against the run of play, Jonathan David equalised after the break with his 18th goal of the season as the visitors became the first team to score against Liverpool since AC Milan did so in the opening round.
But just as he did against Brentford at the weekend, substitute Harvey Elliott made an impact. His deflected shot — his first goal in the Champions League since October 2022 — proved to be the winner on the night.
The Athletic’s Gregg Evans analysed the game at Anfield.
A club record for an impressive defence
Liverpool’s ability to keep the ball out of the net this season was highlighted by another European club record being broken.
Until they conceded in the 62nd minute, Liverpool had gone a total of 599 minutes in Europe without shipping a goal, surpassing the previous record of 572 minutes without conceding held by Rafa Benitez’s team in the 2005-06 season.
The defence has been a key factor in propelling Arne Slot’s team to the top of the Champions League table.
The impressive run of seven wins out of seven has been built on a strong defensive foundation, largely supported by Virgil van Dijk who has played every minute at centre-half.
Slot has rotated in other defensive positions though, using Jarell Quansah and Conor Bradley against Lille to give Ibrahima Konate and Trent Alexander-Arnold a rest.
That Liverpool were able to keep it so tight with a makeshift back line again illustrates the quality in the defensive ranks. They have by far the best defensive record in the Champions League this season, conceding just twice in seven games.
All eyes on Nunez
The Darwin Nunez love-in continued at Anfield as his match-winning goals against Brentford at the weekend remained fresh in the memory of many supporters.
Leading the line in the absence of Diogo Jota, Nunez had a relatively quiet evening but his willingness to track back and put in the hard defensive yards for the team earned plaudits from the home crowd.
Almost every time the striker dropped back into his own half to support, he was met with chants of “Nunez, Nunez” and there was even a moment in the first half where he slid through an opponent to huge applause.
With Jota out for “weeks not months”, all eyes are on the Uruguayan and he knows this is the time to impress.
Although Nunez couldn’t get on the scoresheet — he was denied by a decent save by Lucas Chevalier on 57 minutes and saw a late effort ruled out for offside — he played with a smile on his face, linked up the play nicely at times and provided a relentless, physical presence.
Slot has faced multiple questions about the striker in recent weeks but has continued to back him. That vote of confidence appears to be helping the striker.
It’s Harvey’s time
It’s a line Harvey Elliott has said on multiple occasions: “I don’t want to be known as a supersub.”
Yet, here we are again, discussing the 21-year-old’s performance off the bench.
At the weekend, it was Elliott who set up one of the late goals and played a part in the other during the 2-0 win at Brentford, and on Tuesday at Anfield, he landed the knockout punch himself with the match-winning goal which came via a huge deflection off Ngal’Ayel Mukau.
Not that the helping hand dampened his spirits. Elliott’s smile stretched across The Kop as he celebrated his first Champions League goal in over two years on the back of a solid second-half display.
Still, Elliott wants to play more minutes and establish himself in the side after fighting back from an injury earlier in the season, and these 45 minutes were a good start. He should at least take some satisfaction that he was the first attacking player called upon by Slot from the bench.
What did Arne Slot say?
“In tennis, if you are No.1 seeded, you know it is always better to face the No.24 than No.8, but now we are in a new format so we don’t know yet,” said Slot of the benefits of topping the league phase.
“Some teams are high because they had a lucky draw and some teams are low because they had a tough draw.
“It’s too far off to know if it is an advantage finishing first or second. We still don’t know yet, might be lucky or unlucky. For me, it doesn’t tell me anything. The most important thing is that we now skip a round.”
What next for Liverpool?
Saturday, January 25: Ipswich (H), Premier League, 3pm GMT, 10am ET
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(Top photo: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
