Liverpool sealed their passage into the Europa League knockout stages with a comfortable win against Austrian side LASK at Anfield.
Goals inside the opening 15 minutes from Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo gave Jurgen Klopp’s team a 2-0 lead at the break.
Mohamed Salah added a third early in the second half before Gakpo added his second in stoppage time to make it 4-0.
Here, Gregg Evans breaks down some of the key points from the game…
Who else in the Europa League can compete with Liverpool’s squad depth?
Out came the cheat code again. It’s the story of Liverpool’s season so far: no matter which combination of the senior strikers Klopp decides to use, at least one of them will come up with the goods.
Luis Diaz was the first to convert against LASK before Gakpo, who spoke about enjoying playing both up front and in midfield earlier this week, added a second. It was another example of the club’s strength-in-depth up front and how, even with Diogo Jota now facing a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Klopp’s side are still blessed with myriad options — as they showed with a string of heavyweight substitutions in the second half.
The early goals for Diaz and Gakpo also mean that all five of Liverpool’s main forwards (Darwin Nunez and Salah also included) have at least five goals each before December has dawned. The last time the club could boast a spread like that at this point of the season was way back in 1992-93.
Is Salah now set up for a landmark game on Sunday?
There’s an appreciation for Salah that stretches way beyond his game-by-game performance, but it’s still an experience for those inside Anfield to watch him live.
With the captain’s armband on, he looked like a man on a mission, showing poise and purpose as he patrolled the right wing and caused havoc for LASK throughout his 56 minutes on the pitch. Not only did he look to stretch the defence with clever movement — an area of Salah’s game Klopp believes he has gotten better in recent years — he also dropped deep to collect and then run at the opposition back line at speed.
For a while, it looked like he wouldn’t add to his ever-growing goal tally until he did exactly that, shortly after the break. Gakpo won a penalty and Salah struck the resulting spot kick so cleanly into the bottom right corner that goalkeeper Tobias Lawal did not even have time to move.
That was Klopp’s trigger to rotate. Three goals to the good with all three forwards on the scoresheet and Salah moving up to 199 for Liverpool. That means against Fulham on Sunday, the Egyptian can achieve a rare double of reaching 150 Premier League goals and 200 goals with the same strike. Few would bet against him doing so.
Was this one of Liverpool’s most important results of the season?
Klopp issued a rallying cry before the game, calling for a “proper European night” at Anfield, and though the atmosphere was largely flat inside the home stands as the impressive travelling support made all the noise, those out on the pitch did exactly what was required.
Liverpool were quick out of the blocks and counter-pressed with speed and intensity which set the tone for a comfortable victory. Getting the job done and qualifying was crucial as it should give some of the regulars a much-needed rest when the team travels to Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium for the final group game in two weeks.
This was the first of nine games in 27 days for Liverpool, a period Klopp described as the “most intense” of the season. If anything had gone wrong, then the pressure would have been on. As it turned out, Toulouse’s failure to win at home against USG means Liverpool have qualified as group winners — an achievement that was expected but should still be celebrated.
(Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
What next for Liverpool?
Sunday, December 3: Fulham (H), Premier League, 2pm GMT, 9am ET
Liverpool have won seven and lost just one (a 1-0 home defeat in March 2021) of their last 10 league meetings with Fulham, who have scored only four goals in their 16 trips to Anfield in the competition — never more than once in a single match.
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(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
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