Liverpool booked their spot in the Champions League round of 16 with a 2-1 victory over 10-man Lille on Tuesday at Anfield, thanks to goals from talisman Mohamed Salah and substitute Harvey Elliott.
Arne Slot’s side maintained their perfect record and top the 36-team table with 21 points, three points clear of second-placed Barcelona with one game of the league phase remaining.
Salah netted his 50th European goal for Liverpool in the 34th minute when he sprinted onto a long pass from Curtis Jones after Kostas Tsimikas won the ball inside Liverpool’s half, and then curled a shot around goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.
“We got the ball and Curtis played the ball very well finally and I managed to score,” Salah said.
Despite being reduced to 10 men when Aïssa Mandi was shown his second yellow card in the 59th minute for his tackle on Luis DÃaz, Jonathan David levelled for the visitors three minutes later when he hammered home the loose ball after Hakon Arnar Haraldsson’s shot was blocked.
The strike was David’s fifth in the Champions League this season and only the second Liverpool had conceded, with the first coming in their opening game at AC Milan.
“Not switched off but they went to counter-attack and managed to score,” Salah said. “The clean sheet is very important to us and our backline.”
Liverpool quickly regained the lead when a corner was headed out to the edge of the box and Elliott fired a crisp shot that took a wild deflection into the net in the 67th minute.
Darwin Núñez celebrated what he thought was Liverpool’s third goal just before added time, but it was ruled out for offside.
Lille showed why they are unbeaten in 21 successive games in all competitions inside the opening minute on Tuesday when Gabriel Gudmundsson’s shot from outside of the box sailed just wide of the net.
Salah squandered several terrific chances. He could not quite connect with Diaz’s square ball in the first half, and then had only the keeper to beat in the 44th minute but shot wide of the post.
Raphinha scored deep into stoppage time to hand Barcelona a dramatic 5-4 comeback win at Benfica and a place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after a hat trick from Vangelis Pavlidis gave the hosts a two-goal halftime lead.
Greek striker Pavlidis opened the scoring after two minutes with a tap-in before Robert Lewandowski equalised from the spot as VAR awarded Barca a penalty for a Tomas Araujo foul on Alejandro Balde in the 11th minute.
Pavlidis restored Benfica’s lead, capitalising on a poor run out by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who left the forward with an open goal. The 26-year-old bagged his third with a penalty after Szczesny fouled Kerem Akturkoglu on the half-hour mark.
A blunder by Benfica keeper Anatoliy Trubin also proved costly as he cleared the ball straight onto Raphinha’s head and into the net for a bizarre goal as the visitors pulled one back in the 64th minute to make it 3-2.
Barcelona’s defensive misfortune continued however and Benfica extended their lead again four minutes later thanks to an own goal from Ronald Araujo before Lewandowski scored his second with another clinical penalty in the 78th.
Substitute Eric Garcia then equalised with a towering header from a fine Pedri cross three minutes from time before Raphinha found the winner six minutes into stoppage time from a quick counter-attack that stunned the home crowd.
