NEW DELHI: With a 2-1 victory over Lille at Anfield on Tuesday, Liverpool preserved their undefeated Champions League record, securing a top-two league phase finish and automatic last-16 qualification.
After Jonathan David cancelled out Mohamed Salah‘s first goal, Harvey Elliott’s deflected effort gave Arne Slot’s team their eighth straight Champions League triumph.
Barcelona, who overcame a 4-2 deficit to defeat Benfica 5-4, is still three points ahead of Liverpool.
Lille is now in 11th place after suffering their first loss in 22 games across all competitions.
With the Premier League leaders still competing in four tournaments, Liverpool will be happy to advance straight to the round of 16 without having to go through a play-off round.
With the Reds virtually guaranteed to advance to the next round, Slot seized the opportunity to switch things up.
Fresh off his game-winning effort off the bench, Darwin Nunez, Conor Bradley, and Jarell Quansah joined the team that defeated Brentford 2-0 on Saturday to take a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
With another goal from a replacement, Elliott, who has had to wait for his opportunity to shine since Slot took over, Liverpool’s depth proved crucial once again this season.
“The privilege of managing Liverpool is that you have more than 11 good players,” said Slot.
“That’s also the reason why we can compete in the Champions League, in the League Cup, FA Cup and the Premier League.
“You need more than 11 good players, and it’s up to them to be ready if they get the chance, and I think Harvey showed today, with maybe a bit of a lucky goal, but his performance was good. That’s also what you expect if you bring a player like him in, because he’s a quality player.”
With Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid among their famous victims during their lengthy winning streak, Lille came to Merseyside full of confidence.
The visitors got off to a strong start without ever posing a major threat to Alisson Becker’s goal, but they were far from overwhelmed early on.
Liverpool had trouble getting going until 34 minutes in, when Jones’ defense-splitting pass allowed Salah to race clear and coolly score his 50th European goal for the team.
Due to an injury issue, Slot had to substitute Jones at halftime. He also used the opportunity to rest Ryan Gravenberch for the second half, bringing on Elliot and Alexis Mac Allister.
When Aissa Mandi was sent off for a second bookable offense for cutting down Luis Diaz, Lille’s mission appeared to be hopeless.
But just three minutes, Liverpool’s record-breaking run of games without a loss in Europe came to an end.
After Kostas Tsimikas blocked an attempt by Hakon Arnar Haraldsson, David swept home the rebound.
Christian Pulisic’s goal for AC Milan in the first three minutes of their Champions League opener this season had kept Liverpool from conceding for just under ten hours.
Elliott’s strike from the area’s fringe, however, took a big deflection off Ngal’ayel Mukau to wrong-foot Lucas Chevalier, restoring the advantage in just five minutes.
