Liverpool beats Lille and guarantees direct place in the round of 16
Even with one round remaining, Arne Slot’s team is already guaranteed a place in the next phase of the Champions League, with the best campaign in the League Phase
THE UNSTOPPABLE LIVERPOOL
Liverpool won once again and secured direct qualification for the round of 16 of the Champions League in advance . The 2-1 victory over Lille on Tuesday at home extends their great streak in the competition: they are the only team that has not lost a single match. The team responsible for the triumph at Anfield, in the seventh round, were Salah and Elliott. Jonathan David pulled one back for the visitors. The English club remains in the lead, with 21 points, and Lille drops to 11th, with 13 points and depending on the results of the next round to know their fate in the tournament.
MOHAMED SALAH’S STAR SHINES
The Egyptian striker was decisive once again. Salah is having one of the best seasons of his career and is Liverpool’s top scorer this season. The number 11 didn’t start the game well and made considerable mistakes in the first minutes, but he made the difference at the right time and put Slot’s team ahead in the final stretch of the first half. He now has 39 direct goal contributions in 31 games, in addition to having 22 goals and 17 assists.
HOW WAS THE GAME?
Liverpool didn’t start as strongly as they could have on Tuesday. For much of the first half, both the home side and Lille were attacking but were failing to make the right passes. Mohamed Salah took a while to show his full potential, but he got the goal when he did. In a deadly counterattack, Tsimikas stole the ball in midfield and passed it to Curtis Jones, who found the advancing Egyptian. Salah got the ball in first time with a chip in the 34th minute.
After the break, Liverpool came back much stronger, but still gave Lille space to equalize in the 16th minute . Gudmunsson beat the marker on the left, entered the area and passed to Haraldsson, who was coming from behind. The midfielder finished, the ball hit Van Dijik and fell to David, who made no mistake . The unstoppable Liverpool appeared again, with Elliott, five minutes later . Tsimikas took the corner, the ball fell to the number 19, who hit a beautiful shot from outside the area and also had the ball deflected off Mukau.
