Mohamed Salah and Harvey Elliott found the net as Liverpool maintained their spot as league phase leaders in the Champions League with a 2-1 win over 10-man Lille at Anfield.
Salah's strike, his 50th in Europe for the club, came shortly before the interval, with the Egyptian racing through on goal from Curtis Jones's ball in behind, and the Liverpool forward made no mistake to beat Lucas Chevalier in the Lille goal.
It was Elliott who got the winner, as the 21-year-old saw his speculative effort take a huge deflection to leave the Lille keeper stranded shortly after Jonathan David had found a surprise equaliser for the visitors, who played the final half-an-hour a man light, due to Aissa Mandi's red card.
Fortunately for Liverpool, that goal came late enough in the evening that they were able to set a new club record for the longest time without conceding a goal in Europe, beating the previous best of 576 minutes, set by Rafael Benitez's men back in 2005-06.
The win for Liverpool was not enough to make absolutely sure of top spot, because of Barcelona's astonishing 5-4 win at Benfica, meaning Arne Slot's men still need another point to finish top of the 36-team standings, and to be top seeds for the last 16 draw.
For Bruno Genesio and Lille, their club-record 21-game unbeaten run now comes to an end, and they have fallen to 11th, with more teams around them in action tomorrow, but a place in the playoffs is already secure.
SPORTS MOLE'S VERDICT
© Imago
This unstoppable Liverpool machine keeps on steamrolling anyone in sight on the continent, and even when they appear sluggish and slightly off it, they still have the players in attack to go win them the game, even if tonight's winner was hugely fortuitous.
Many may turn their nose up at beating Lille, disregarding the French side as pushovers, but they are anything but, with 13 points from their opening six games, this was always likely to be a difficult night for the hosts.
Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Juventus have all struggled against Genesio's men, and until the sending off of Mandi, Liverpool were unable to get much of a foothold on proceedings, despite leading at half time.
Ending Les Dogues' long unbeaten run means Liverpool remain on maximum points, and they can complete a perfect league phase campaign with a win over PSV Eindhoven next week.
LIVERPOOL VS. LILLE HIGHLIGHTS
Salah goal vs. Lille (34th min, Liverpool 1-0 Lille)
MO SALAH DOING MO SALAH THINGS! 🇪🇬👑#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/8sOvMd1OjW
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) January 21, 2025
In a game of little chances, it only took one for Salah to give Liverpool the lead, latching onto Jones's through ball before clinically beating Chevalier in the Lille goal when faced one-on-one.
59th min: Aissa Mandi (Lille) red card
"He knows exactly what he's doing!"
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) January 21, 2025
Aïssa Mandi receives a second yellow card and Lille are down to 🔟 men at Anfield!#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/ubV3yqlzdz
Already on a booking, Mandi is dismissed following a lunge on Luis Diaz from behind, giving referee Felix Zwayer no choice but to brandish another.
David goal vs. Liverpool (62nd min, Liverpool 1-1 Lille)
😱 LILLE HAVE EQUALISED AT ANFIELD 😱
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) January 21, 2025
Moments after going down to 🔟 men, Jonathan David stuns the home crowd!#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/gEBVgwkmOx
A huge surprise at Anfield as the 10 men of Lille have equalised! Positive play down the left by Gabriel Gudmundsson sees his cross find Hakon Arnar Haraldsson, whose initial effort is blocked, but falls perfectly for David who prods the ball home in front of the travelling support.
Elliott goal vs. Lille (67th min, Liverpool 2-1 Lille)
Liverpool regain the lead thanks to a huge slice of luck!
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) January 21, 2025
Harvey Elliott's strike goes in via a wicked deflection! 🔴#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/H8dE5wVzef
Barely five minutes after Lille's shock equaliser, Liverpool are back in front, and it is thanks to a huge slice of good fortune, with Elliott's strike from the edge of the area taking a massive deflection off Ngalayel Mukau, leaving goalkeeper Chevalier stranded.
MAN OF THE MATCH - MOHAMED SALAH
© Imago
It was a game sorely lacking in quality, but Liverpool know they can always rely on main man Salah to dig them out of a hole, and that is what he did after a lacklustre opening 30 minutes tonight.
Salah remained a threat throughout, and despite not quite finding the target in the second half, he once again played an important role in another Liverpool win.
LIVERPOOL VS. LILLE MATCH STATS
Possession: Liverpool 56%-44% Lille
Shots: Liverpool 13-4 Lille
Shots on target: Liverpool 7-1 Lille
Corners: Liverpool 3-3 Lille
Fouls: Liverpool 12-9 Lille
BEST STATS
Mo Salah has scored his 50th European goal for Liverpool 👏#BBCFootball #UCL pic.twitter.com/GQc20FiXy5
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) January 21, 2025
Most Champions League goals scored for an English team at a single stadium:
— Squawka (@Squawka) January 21, 2025
◎ 23 - Ruud van Nistelrooy (Old Trafford)
◎ 23 - Sergio Aguero (Etihad)
◉ 20 - Mohamed Salah (Anfield)
The Egyptian has now been directly involved in more goals than any other player in Europe's top... pic.twitter.com/NGKH87SyBG
50 - Through Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson, this will be the second time two Liverpool players have both made their 50th European Cup/UEFA Champions League appearances for the club in the same game, after Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypiä in March 2008 (v Inter). Pillars. pic.twitter.com/i0D7LNKXsQ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 21, 2025
WHAT NEXT?
Liverpool are back at Anfield on Saturday, welcoming relegation candidates Ipswich Town to Merseyside in the Premier League, before concluding their league phase campaign away to PSV next week.
Lille will look to respond to losing their lengthy unbeaten streak when they go to in-form Strasbourg at the weekend, and Genesio's side end the league phase with a home clash against Feyenoord.
Andrew Delaney
