Harvey Elliott fends off 10-man Lille to leave Liverpool in seventh heaven
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Liverpool and Mohamed Salah march on with ease. Arne Slot’s team secured a place in the knockout phase of the Champions League with victory over Lille, on the night Salah became the first player in Liverpool’s illustrious history to score 50 European goals. Top of the Champions League and the Premier League, the six-time champions will fear no one in the last 16.
![[Mohamed Salah lifts the ball past Lucas Chevalier to score Liverpool’s opener.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/eeb31088aea0c323ed3d75ce7140cdded9bf21d2/0_157_3871_2323/master/3871.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Liverpool needed only one point from their final two group games to guarantee a place in the knockout rounds, a place that has never once looked in doubt, and took all three courtesy of Salah’s instinctive finish and Harvey Elliott’s deflected strike. Victory equalled Liverpool’s best sequence in the Champions League era of seven straight wins, first set in 2021/22. Slot’s team also created a new club record for most minutes without conceding in Europe, surpassing the 572 set by Rafael Benítez’s team in 2005-06.
Slot’s starting XI suggested he had an eye on Saturday’s game with Ipswich and managing individual workloads, particularly in defence, but Lille were not underestimated. Bruno Génésio’s side started the penultimate round of fixtures in the final automatic qualifying spot after an impressive campaign that has yielded victories over both Madrid clubs and a draw against Juventus. There was an early warning from the visitors when Gabriel Gudmundsson broke through straight from Liverpool’s kick off. The left-back shrugged aside Conor Bradley and surged into the area where he sent a powerful drive wide of Alisson’s post.
