Liverpool produced a peaceful and scientific show on Wednesday evening as they swept apart Marseille 3-0 on the Stade Vélodrome within the UEFA Champions League league section. Confidence was already excessive inside Arne Slot’s squad heading into the competition, as highlighted earlier by SoftFootball when assessing Liverpool’s confidence forward of the Marseille conflict, and that perception confirmed from the opening phases.
The end result, shared by the membership’s official X account, strikes the Reds onto 15 factors and firmly into the highest 4 of the desk, whereas Marseille slip additional behind and now face a tense struggle simply to achieve the play-off locations. Regardless of the intimidating ambiance contained in the Vélodrome, Liverpool by no means misplaced their composure.
Marseille began with vitality and briefly threatened by means of Mason Greenwood, forcing Alisson Becker into a pointy save, however clear possibilities have been restricted. Hugo Ekitiké thought he had opened the scoring towards his former membership, just for the flag to rule him offside.
As the primary half wore on, Liverpool grew in management, and Dominik Szoboszlai finally broke the impasse in first-half stoppage time by cleverly sending a free-kick beneath the leaping wall to beat Geronimo Rulli. It was a second of high quality that underlined Liverpool’s rising authority on the evening.
After the break, Roberto De Zerbi’s aspect tried to lift the tempo, however Liverpool’s construction held agency. Virgil van Dijk, making his 350th look for the membership, marshalled the again line beautifully, whereas Joe Gomez slotted in comfortably at centre-back.
Ekitiké got here agonisingly near doubling the lead when he struck the crossbar, earlier than Liverpool lastly killed the competition within the 72nd minute. Jeremie Frimpong’s low cross induced chaos within the Marseille field, and Rulli might solely flip the ball into his personal internet beneath stress.
Any remaining resistance pale in stoppage time when Cody Gakpo completed a slick transfer, calmly changing Ryan Gravenberch’s move to make it 3-0. The purpose added gloss to knowledgeable away efficiency that prolonged Liverpool’s unbeaten run to 13 matches in all competitions.
For Slot, this was one other encouraging European evening, particularly after current home frustration at Anfield, lined by SoftFootball when Florian Wirtz’s strike was not sufficient towards Burnley. Liverpool now head into the ultimate league section fixture figuring out computerized qualification for the spherical of 16 is firmly inside attain, whereas Marseille should regroup shortly to maintain their European hopes alive.
