In the Europa League, Liverpool defeated Austrian side LASK 4-0 thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, and Cody Gakpo.
Toulouse and Union Saint-Gilloise fought to a draw in order to avoid the dreaded round-of-32 play-off. Gakpo scored in extra time, and Salah converted a penalty in the second half for his 199th goal for the team. Gakpo and Diaz had already scored.
Just on its own, the tournament favorites’ dominance—with a club-record 12 points in the group stage—will satisfy manager Jurgen Klopp, whose pre-match news conference was full of references to the challenging December period ahead.
The Reds have extended their perfect home record to 10 games with their third straight shutout at Anfield since October 2022. They have scored thirty goals while allowing just four goals in front of their home fans.
Given that the Austrians are the worst team in the group, their record was actually never in doubt. With the exception of Salah and left back Kostas Tsimikas, the home squad made nine changes from their draw with Manchester City the previous weekend, and their vulnerability was exposed twice in the opening three minutes.
Play started on the left was continued when Joe Gomez crossed the ball from the left side of the box for Diaz to bend and push in a twisting header.
Salah scored the second goal on the same wing after Diaz set him up. He then found Gakpo for the simplest of close-range volley finishes at the far post.
Tsimikas struck a hard shot against the crossbar, and Gomez—who hasn’t scored in his eight years with the team—showed the home team’s unshakeable faith by missing a 25-yard attempt.
Salah appeared to spend most of the half being targeted by the team, either by being positioned dangerously on the shoulder of the final defender or by being brought into the penalty area, in an attempt to get him to 100 goals.
His angled effort turned into a cross, escaped Gakpo, and was gently stopped by the goaltender, wasting both of his opportunities.
In regulation time, Salah scored in the sixty-sixth minute, but he had to give Gakpo the credit he deserves.
The Dutchman beat goalie Tobias Lawal to the rebound by following his own pass with enough speed, but his brief through pass to Diaz missed the mark.
Salah calmly put the penalty kick into the far corner of the net while Lawal remained unresponsive.
That was the end of it, but it felt like there could have been more goals when Gakpo missed the base of a post from outside the area. In extra time, the Dutchman was still rewarded with a second goal.
Darwin Nunez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Curtis Jones were a welcome addition, as Alexander-Arnold gave one of his trademark all-action, occasionally underwhelming performances.
It went further toward the latter when the Uruguayan international’s first attempt was deflected wide, and then, after Harvey Elliott’s deflected strike was stopped by the goalie diving in the other direction, he fired straight at Lawal from eight yards.
The best chance for the visitors was lost by Marin Ljubcic when Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher started for the first time since Alisson Becker’s two-week absence due to a hamstring injury. Until the final twenty minutes of the match, Kelleher had no role to perform.
When put upon, he showed no fear, smothering Ibrahim Mustapha, stopping Moses Usor’s attempt, and making an instinctive save against LASK’s top scorer, Robert Zulj. But an even more difficult test will come on Sunday when Fulham, a timid team that has only scored 13 goals in their previous 13 games, comes to town.