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For a team in crisis, it was exactly what the doctor ordered.
They might be struggling domestically, but Europe has always brought out the best in Liverpool.
And Jurgen Klopp’s team have a foot in the quarterfinals after their 2-0 first leg victory over RB Leipzig in Budapest.
Confident and clinical, the Reds more than deserved their victory, which came from second-half strikes from Mo Salah and Sadio Mane at Puskas Stadium. Halfway through, and with two “away” goals in the bag, they totally control the tie.
They have been scarce lately, but it was indeed a good night’s work for the Premier League champions. Under pressure at home, they found the continent much more to their liking.
From the first whistle to the last, they were there. I am hungry in Hungary, you might say. They pressed and they passed, they concentrated and they worked, they were cohesive and organized, strong and dangerous. If the trust is low, it doesn’t show.
They got a little help from their opponents.
Leipzig may be an emerging force, the second-best Bundesliga team and the semi-finalists in this competition last season, but they played with European minnow naivety here. Julian Nagelsmann, their manager, will have torn his hair out in the face of the carelessness exposed.
Both goals were handed to Liverpool. First Marcel Sabitzer, the Leipzig captain, lost a pass behind his own defense for Salah, who was on it in a flash and finished with the minimum of fuss in front of Peter Gulacsi.
Then, just five minutes later, the excellent Curtis Jones placed a ball over the summit which Nordi Mukiele made into a pig’s ear, allowing Mane the freedom of Budapest to run flawlessly and return home. his home.
Big goals, big goals. Salah now has 24 in all competitions this season, more than he managed in the entire last campaign.
With 118 he is on par with the great Ian St John on Liverpool’s all-time list. Only 12 men are seated above the Egyptian, and in that kind of form you will support him to pass at least three before the end of the season. He is truly a truly remarkable footballer.
Mane has found some goals a little more difficult to achieve recently. It was his 11th of the season, rewarded for an enterprising and persistent display, in which he tormented the hapless Mukiele throughout.
Liverpool carried their chances from the start, with Dani Olmo hitting Alisson Becker’s right post with a header, but the ‘visitors’ were comfortably the better team afterwards and could have led to the break if Salah , Roberto Firmino or Andy Robertson had a little more fortune or precision.
They ran things in the midfield, where Jones and Thiago Alcantara, in particular, enjoyed stellar games, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson looked a lot more like themselves from the back.
Klopp will also have liked to see his team register a first clean sheet in eight matches. Ozan Kabak looked confident of his European arc for the club, while alongside him Jordan Henderson continues to play the role of center-back admirably.
And when these two were raped, Alisson Becker was there to mop up. The Brazilian made a few typing errors, but his handling and positioning were perfect.
All in all, then, a good night’s work for Klopp and his men. It’s been a few weeks of testing for the Anfield men, but on that evidence they’re far from over.
Hey, who knows, maybe another Champions League load is brewing? Stranger things have happened, that’s for sure.
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