On a night of one historic achievement for Liverpool, injury-time drama in Lisbon meant they will have to wait a little longer for another. As they surpassed the defensive efforts of any of their European Cup-winning teams, they booked a place in the last 16 of the new-look Champions League. It took an improbable comeback by Barcelona against Benfica to mean they still need another point to become the inaugural winners of the 36-team group stage. There is no trophy for it, but it would be a notable feat, even if their own manager questioned its ultimate importance.
“If in tennis you are No 1 seeded it is better to face the No 24 than the No 8 or No 12 because it is a ranking done for years,” argued Arne Slot. “Now we are in a new format when some teams are high because they have a lucky draw and some are low because they had a very difficult draw. We still don’t know if it is an advantage or not. It might be an advantage, it might be a disadvantage. For me the most important thing is we have been able to skip a round and that is definitely worth a bit.”
And yet, as Liverpool’s first six games came exclusively against sides from Serie A, LaLiga and the Bundesliga, they had a difficult draw and yet still possess the lone 100 per cent record. It may not help them in the future but Jonathan David, the Lille striker who ended their record-breaking defensive run, was entitled to say: “They might be the best team in the world at the moment.”
Lille, fellow conquerors of Real Madrid, arrived at Anfield unbeaten in 21 games and were duly defeated 2-1. Liverpool are now guaranteed a top-two finish in the pool. A frugal streak has helped: even as Liverpool conceded, they still set a club record, going 599 minutes without being breached in Europe between Christian Pulisic’s strike for AC Milan, three minutes into their campaign, and David’s equaliser for Lille.
It was sandwiched by Mohamed Salah’s opener and Harvey Elliott’s winner, goals that may mean the winger gets a night off when Liverpool visit PSV Eindhoven next week, and the midfielder a rare start. Liverpool know now that the rearranged Merseyside derby, which will clash with the play-off games on 12 February, can go ahead. They will have no continental commitments then.
There was a sense in Slot’s selection that the job was almost done. “We would have been really unlucky if we lost twice but were not in the top eight,” he said. He made three changes in his back four, brought Elliott on at half-time, when Curtis Jones had to come off, and gave substitutes Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo their longest runouts in this competition as Liverpool players. With games against Ipswich and PSV next, they may eye other opportunities.
Yet while they have been bit-part players, this has been a collective effort. Liverpool’s 599-minute shutout came courtesy of two goalkeepers, a duo of right-backs, a pair of left-backs and their four main central defenders. Their previous best, of 572, came for Rafa Benitez’s defence, anchored by Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher, fresh from Champions League glory in 2005. Slot highlighted Alisson’s saves against Girona but argued frugality did not come from a rearguard action. “The nice thing for me is we keep clean sheets not by defending a lot, we keep clean sheets by attacking a lot,” he said.
And they have a world-class attacker. Salah had not scored in his previous three games. He had been quiet in the opening half-hour, one shot aside. Yet he has the capacity to spring to life when he senses an opening. His 50th European goal for the club was taken superbly. “Special, I think, is the word to describe Mo’s performance at this club,” said Slot. “He has been outstanding for so many years and still. This goal tells you so much, the work rate of the players who won the ball back.”
Kostas Tsimikas tackled David, Jones played a defence-splitting pass from inside his own half and, with Lucas Chevalier rushing out of his box, Salah curled a first-time finish beyond the goalkeeper. There could have been a second from a similarly devastating break. From the edge of his own box, Luis Diaz lofted a pass over the Lille back four. Salah’s first touch was immaculate, to take the ball down. His last was more imprecise, placing his shot just the wrong side of the post. Then Salah, going from muted to rampant, rolled another shot wide.
Lille had offered early evidence of their mettle, starting with the confidence of a team who had not lost for four months. Gabriel Gudmundsson whistled a shot wide after 30 seconds. They nevertheless came back into the game in illogical fashion. Aissa Mandi collected his second yellow card for a tug on Diaz. Perhaps Liverpool lost concentration or gave way temporarily to complacency, but Lille responded.
Liverpool’s record-breaking run ended a minute before the 10-hour mark. David struck after Hakon Amar Haraldsson’s shot was blocked but the Canadian, the matchwinner against both halves of Madrid, slotted in the rebound. “It was one chance for the other team,” rued Slot.
Liverpool had a suitable comeback of their own. Tsimikas’ set-pieces posed Lille problems and, after his corner was only cleared as far as Elliott, his half volley was well struck, but the deflection off Ngal’Ayel Mukau meant Chevalier stood no chance. “I wasn’t sure if it was my goal,” admitted the scorer.
Darwin Nunez, scorer of two legitimate injury-time goals at Brentford, had one disallowed here for offside and this time, Lille could not fight back. The dramatic decider instead came in Lisbon. But it may not be enough to stop Liverpool from finishing ahead of the other 35 teams.
