Liverpool comprehensively beat Bayer Leverkusen at Anfield on Tuesday in the fourth round of the Champions League group stage, maintaining their 100% record in the competition this term at the expense of the reigning Bundesliga champions.
All four goals came in the second half, with Luis Diaz landing a hat-trick (61′, 83′, 90+2′) and Cody Gakpo (63′) on target as well.
Alonso returns to Liverpool
There was, of course, plenty of talk about Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso returning to Anfield. His links with the six-time European champions are known to everyone following the game for 20 years or more, given that he was one of the greatest heroes for the Merseysiders in the legendary 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan, scoring to equalize as they came back against all odds from 3-0 down.
Naturally, the Spaniard received a warm welcome at Anfield, and the applause that echoed around the stadium after the final whistle was surely in part in his honour.
Further more, Alonso was tipped for a while to succeed Jurgen Klopp as the Liverpool boss at the end of last season, but he obviously felt he had unfinished business at Leverkusen, having led them to a domestic unbeaten double and to the Europa League final. The Anfield faithful obviously do not hold that against him, showing nothing but respect for everything he’s done in a Liverpool shirt. To be fair, Arne Slot doing so well at the start of this season has probably had some influence over that as well.
Unsurprisingly, Alonso was asked about managing Liverpool in the future before the game, and his answer was extremely diplomatic and respectful for both clubs, showing loyalty to Leverkusen while not ruling anything out.
Hey @LFC, He’s back!🥹#LIVB04 #UCL pic.twitter.com/d4JG4NSNOV
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) November 4, 2024
The teams
Slot was without four players through various injuries for this clash: goalkeeper Alisson Becker, midfielder Harvey Elliott, winger Federico Chiesa, and forward Diogo Jota, all of whom are expected back in contention after the upcoming international break.
Caomhin Kelleher was in goal again. Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk paired up in the heart of defence, with Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right, and Kostas Tsimikas, selected again ahead of Andy Robertson, on the left. Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister were in the middle of the park, joined by Curtis Jones who now appears to represent serious competition for Dominic Szoboszlai. Interestingly enough, Slot gave the central attacking role to Luis Diaz this time, while Gakpo attacked from the left and Mohamed Salah from the right.
On the other hand, Alonso went with his preferred 3-5-2 formation. The back line of Jonathan Tah, Piero Hincapie and Edmond Tapsoba was the shield in front of goalkeeper Lukasz Hradecky. Granit Xhaka was the central figure in midfield, with Aleix Garcia and Exequiel Palacios closest. Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo provided width as the wingbacks, while Victor Boniface and Florian Wirtz played upfront. The likes of Robert Andrich, Jonas Hofmann and Patrik Schick were left on the bench.
The game
The whole first half was rather uneventful, which was arguably the way the visitors wanted it. Alonso’s men successfully stifled Liverpool’s attacks, shorn of creativity or any trace of explosiveness. They even dominated possession, and the fact that the Merseysiders constantly sought to move forward only increased their frustration.
But right on the hour mark, one fine line-breaking pass proved enough to undo everything good Leverkusen had done before. It came from Jones, who slipped the ball in for Diaz inside the box, and the Colombian produced a deft chip over Hradecky to break the deadlock. Two minutes later, Salah delivered a pin-point cross to the far post where Gakpo pounced and headed into the net, dealing a powerful blow to Leverkusen’s gameplan.
For some reason, best known to himself, Alonso didn’t react immediately when his team went two goals down. Instead, he waited 10 more minutes, and then simply refreshed his midfield by introducing Andrich and Hofmann instead of Garcia and Palacios. Boniface, who had a very tough game against Van Dijk and Konate, made way for Schick with 10 minutes to go, and Nathan Tella came on to replace a tired-looking Grimaldo, all to very little effect.
All Leverkusen were able to do after Diaz scored his second goal was to put the hosts under some pressure, but even that didn’t prevent Diaz from completing his hat-trick in the second minute of stoppage time.
Liverpool relentless
Liverpool have now played 16 matches across all competitions this season, winning 14, suffering a surprising defeat at home against Nottingham Forest and earning a respectable draw away to Arsenal. Consequently, they top the tables both in the Premier League and the Champions League, being the only team in UEFA’s elite competition with a 100% record after four rounds. Quite apart from those successes, they’ve booked a place in the Carabao Cup quarterfinals, where they’ll face Southampton on December 18.
Not many saw the Reds as serious contenders for the Premier League title, or Champions League glory. It was natural not to expect them to shine straight away under a new coach. It was widely, and quite reasonably, believed Slot would need some time to impose his own methods and start getting the best out of his new squad.
But the former Feyenoord coach has certainly put his stamp all over Liverpool’s game. It’s notably different to the way Jurgen Klopp had the team playing, more cautious, more controlled, more pragmatic.
Ahead of the international break
Both Liverpool and Leverkusen have one game left to play before the players head out for international duty. Liverpool will have a tricky task of welcoming Aston Villa to Anfield on Saturday.
As for Leverkusen, their four draws in the last five Bundesliga games have enabled Bayern Munich to open up a seven-point gap between them at the top of the table, with RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt in it. They will look to take advantage of the struggles of last-place Bochum when they travel for their clash at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday.
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
