Winter is on its way, and Anfield saw a collision of ice and fire. Liverpool produced a red-hot performance as temperatures dropped to -4C on Merseyside to confirm their place as Group E champions and earn safe passage to the Europa League knockout rounds.
Jurgen Klopp had challenged his squad to make this a’special night’ and qualify for the next round of the tournament, and they delivered, handily defeating Austrian club LASK.
A brace from Cody Gakpo was added to goals from Luis Diaz and Mo Salah on what was, in many ways, a perfect night for Klopp and his team. A goal for each of the starting front three, as well as confident performances all around, and plenty of minutes for periphery players and rising stars.
It was also a night when numerous significant players, like Dominik Szoboszlai, Virgil van Dijk, and Alexis Mac Allister, sat on the substitutes’ bench with puffer jackets, caps, and snoods.
That is likely to be the case again when Liverpool visits Union Saint-Gilloise in a fortnight for the final group game.
“Result was top, performance was really good,” said Klopp. “Nobody got injured. When we play this competition, it’s the most important competition on the planet. Now we play the Premier League on Sunday, then that’s the most important.”
The peaceful European nights are especially essential to Klopp, whose team begins a stretch of eight games in 23 days on Sunday.
Young Luke Chambers and Conor Bradley came off the bench tonight and will be hoping for further opportunities in the trip to Brussels.
Diaz was one of the main players that began, but he was replaced in the second half along with Salah and Ibrahima Konate.
The Colombian recently lost his first-choice XI berth owing to Diogo Jota’s performance during Diaz’s absence due to his father’s abduction.
However, with Jota now injured, Diaz will be on the field for an extended period of time.
He was the architect of everything good for Liverpool, guiding his team to a two-goal lead after only 15 minutes.
On 13 minutes, he scored with a header, ghosting in to complete a one-two with Gomez and slamming home, before seizing possession in a dangerous location for the second goal.
He fed by Salah, who spun past a defender and set up Gakpo for a simple tap-in.
Salah captained Liverpool for the first time at Anfield, continuing a record of participating heavily in this tournament despite many other crucial players being left on the bench.
After Gakpo was felled early in the second half, he scored his 199th goal for the club from the penalty spot.
Gakpo scored Liverpool’s fourth goal in injury time with a neat finish, his second of the game.
He came close to a hat trick early in the half when he hit the post from a long distance, but he scored superbly following Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defense-splitting ball.
Klopp gave more minutes to young defender Jarell Quansah, and the manager added: ‘Jarell played a super game. Before this season, a lot of people told us we should buy a defender. We had Jarell. Home boy, calm on the ball, good on the challenges.’