Liverpool v Lille LIVE: Result and final score as Harvey Elliott strikes lucky in Champions League
Arne Slot’s Liverpool side remain top of the new-look Champions League
Liverpool have won 2-1 against Lille in their Champions League match at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah scored on the counter-attack in the first half and the hosts were cruising when Lille’s Aissa Mandi was sent off for a second bookable offence.
But Jonathan David’s equaliser stunned the home side, who then enjoyed a slice of luck as Harvey Elliott’s speculative strike took a deflection on its way in.
The result meant Liverpool have won seven out of seven games in the new league phase and have qualified for the last-16.
Re-live all the action from Anfield below:
League phase permutations
It’s a pretty simple evening ahead for Liverpool – avoid defeat tonight, and they will book their automatic place in the last 16 of the competition.
A draw or win would guarantee that they can’t fall below eighth in the league phase table, though of course Arne Slot’s side will be keen to win both of their remaining matches to finish top of the table with a flawless record.
Arne Slot explains Liverpool's new problem: ‘All of them are in a low block’
Arne Slot believes it has become harder for Liverpool to score goals after they left it late to earn a stoppage-time 2-0 victory over Brentford.
The league-leaders, who had 37 shots on Saturday, needed Darwin Nunez’s late double to secure a precious three points in their bid for Premier League glory.
The hard-fought victory in west London came after successive draws to Manchester United and Nottingham Forest and Slot believes the defensive set-up of opponents has made it increasingly difficult for his side to find the net.
Slot explains Liverpool's new problem: ‘All of them are in a low block’
Slot: "I am not surprised but impressed"
In his pre-match conference, Arne Slot said that he is “impressed” with Lille.
“I was impressed by their manager Bruno Genesio at Rennes, at the way his team played. I've seen many games of them and I'm not surprised. They've deserved every single point,” he said.
“The most important, when we go out there we want to win a game,” he added.
“I'm not thinking at the league table in a way that if you finish number one you get the easiest team because being on top doesn't tell you you're the best team. It's impossible to say because of the strange format we have.”
Match facts
Liverpool are aiming to equal their best ever sequence of seven wins in a row in the Champions League era, having won their opening seven matches of the 2021-22 campaign.
In their 16 previous clashes with French teams at Anfield, the Reds have won 13, drawn one and lost two (to Marseille in 2007 and Lyon in 2009).
How Liverpool’s squad was expertly built – and why Arne Slot is now reaping the rewards
After the 22-second goal came the 26-minute strike. Arne Slot provided the definition of both an impact substitute and an instant impact when Diogo Jota scored at Nottingham Forest, with his first touch, 22 seconds after he and his provider, Kostas Tsimikas, entered proceedings. Four days later, Darwin Nunez broke the deadlock 26 minutes after his own introduction. His second goal, two minutes later, was assisted by another replacement, Harvey Elliott, 13 minutes into his cameo against Brentford.
“It's so nice for me, for us as a team, that I have players that can impact the game on the bench as well,” reflected Slot. As Liverpool resume their Champions League campaign, top of the table and with the only 100 percent record in the competition, two of their outstanding performances in the competition came from men likely to begin on the bench against Lille on Tuesday. When Real Madrid were beaten 2-0, Caoimhin Kelleher saved Kylian Mbappe’s penalty. And if the goalkeeper was not the man of the match, it is because Conor Bradley produced a barnstorming display.
Liverpool’s squad was expertly built – and Arne Slot is reaping the rewards
Liverpool team news
So Darwin Nunez does indeed lead the line for Liverpool tonight, with Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones also coming into the side, as Arne Slot takes the opportunity to rotate his troops.
Cody Gakpo, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate and Alexis Mac Allister drop to the bench.
Confirmed line-up: Lille
Chevalier; Gundmundsson, Alexsandro, Diakite, Mandi; Bakker, Mukau, Andre (c), Cabella; Haraldsson, David.
Subs: Mannone, Caillard, Gomes, Sahraoui, Meunier, Bayo, Mbappe, Ismaily, Bouaddi, Cossier.
Confimed line-up: Liverpool
Liverpool XI: Alisson; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Jones; Salah, Nunez, Diaz.
Subs: Kelleher, Jaros, Endo, Konate, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Gakpo, Elliott, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Danns, Morton.
Team news
The starting line-ups should be announced in the next five minutes, so here’s a reminder of the early team news.
Joe Gomez is Liverpool’s only long-term absentee, though Diogo Jota is a doubt having missed the win at Brentford with a niggle. Some rotation can be expected as Arne Slot continues to balance efforts domestic and continental.
Lille are currently without defensive pair Tiago Santos and Samuel Umtiti.
Head-to-head
These two sides have met just twice before, in the Europa League in 2010.
Those meetings came in the round of 16 in the 2009/10 edition of the competition. Lille won the home tie 1-0, though the Reds came back to win 3-0 at Anfield, courtesy of goals from Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres (2).