BEVERLY HILLS, February 17, (THEWILL) – Casting aside their recent slide down the pecking order in the English Premier League that saw them concede their leadership status to presently sit sixth after their third successive loss, EPL champions Liverpool returned to Europe for the only sure chance of silverware this season. They showed, by their performance, that they mean to milk the UEFA Champions League, which they won two years ago, for all that it is worth.
Once again, Liverpool’s deadliest duo of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were at their most clinical at Budapest’s Puskas Arena, where this last-16 first leg was switched due to COVID-19 restrictions in Germany, giving the Anfield team the two goal cushion they will take back home for the second leg on Wednesday, March 10.
Apart from the fact that it was a clean sheet 2-0 victory, the level of Liverpool’s game was significantly higher than how they had played in the matches leading up to the resumption of European competition. Their slide led to fears of a possible upset against a more in-form Bundesliga side coming in on the back of four wins in four matches compared to Liverpool’s three losses in three.
However, the night turned out to be Liverpool’s night which is always the case when key players turn up a proper shift, as they did on Tuesday night. The Egyptian goal machine, Mohamed Salah was up for it, the Senegalese Sadio Mane gave it everything and the recently strange error-prone Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker was determined to restore confidence in his abilities to do the job.
Whenever these individuals have a great game, the results seldom turns against the Reds. It is no wonder they have such amazing stats in the Anfield squad. And have raised the level of the game that the Kop are famous for.
Currently, only 12 players have ever scored more goals for Liverpool FC than Salah. His brilliant reverse finish to break the deadlock on Tuesday against Leipzig took his tally for the Reds to a staggering 118 (in just 186 appearances), moving him level with Ian St John in 13th on the club’s all-time scorers chart.
St John was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward for Liverpool throughout most of the 1960s. He is fondly remembered as a stalwart member of the team that emerged from the second tier of English football to win two league titles and one FA Cup and thus help Liverpool cement a position as one of the country’s top sides.
Salah’s strike rate has been so phenomenal since moving to Anfield in 2017, that he is now only 13 goals away from breaking into the top 10 in the all-time list. The number 11’s opening goal in the Puskas Arena was his 24th goal in the 2020/2021 season, meaning he has already surpassed his total of last season while playing 14 matches less.
In the top five leagues of European football, only Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski (30) has more goals than the Egyptian in all competitions.
Then, there is his strike-partner Mane, who easily continued his astonishing strike rate in the knockout stages of successive Champions League campaigns.
In Tuesday’s game, the 28-year-old Senegalese was the beneficiary of a misjudged clearance by Leipzig French defender Nordi Mukiele. And so, five minutes after Salah’s breakthrough, Mane sped into the box and swept his own emphatic hit past Peter Gulacsi, in goal for Leipzig.
The goal took Mane’s personal record in three European knockout encounters to 11 goals in 17 appearances since he moved to Anfield in 2016 from Southampton. Of the 11, nine were away from Anfield, including a hat-trick at FC Porto three years ago, a decisive brace against Bayern Munich in 2019 and a strike in the 2018 final past Real Madrid, the eventual winners.
Finally, apart from these two key performers in front getting the goals for Liverpool, there is also Alisson at the back keeping the goals out. The Brazilian goalie registered his 50th clean sheet for Liverpool as the 12th goalkeeper to achieve the feat for the Reds.
As alert as he was between the sticks putting in a wonderful shift, fortune still counted when Spanish striker Daniel Olmo’s early header bounced off the woodwork and away from his net with him no where near ever reaching the ball. Yet, he did not count on luck throughout these 50 clean sheets and some opportunities in the match that came Leipzig’s way proved he was just as outstanding as his reputation claims he is.
When Leipzig’s French forward Christopher Nkunku broke free in behind and held off defender Jordan Henderson to create a one-on-one with Alisson, the keeper stood up firmly and batted away the forward’s attempted finish to keep the score goalless. Within 15 minutes, the Reds led by two.
It was a pivotal moment and it had the potential to change the outcome of the game but for the reflexes of Alisson. Klopp was direct in his acknowledgement of that moment, especially given what the keeper had gone through in recent matches.
“You can imagine Ali will sleep really well on the plane on the way home. As always, he helped us a lot,” Klopp said.
They will seek to build on this performance in the EPL as they look towards a top four target beginning from their next match, a home tie against the team immediately below them in the standings, Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton on Saturday, February 20.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
