Harvey Elliott keeps up Liverpool’s perfect European record in win over Lille
Share:
Harvey Elliott’s first Champions League goal in over two years secured a seventh successive Champions League victory but the guarantee of top spot was frustratingly denied them by a late Barcelona goal in Lisbon. A 2-1 victory looked to have done the job with a game to spare only for the second-placed Catalans to beat Benfica 5-4 with a goal in the sixth minute of added time to ensure the race for first place will go to the final fixture.
While Mohamed Salah reached another landmark with his 50th European goal it needed 21-year-old substitute Elliott to provide the decisive strike after the Reds’ defence was breached for the first time in a minute short of 10 hours in the competition.
A last-16 spot is now secured but head coach Arne Slot would have liked to have returned to his Netherlands homeland to face PSV Eindhoven next week with top spot safe to give him the option of resting players. Aissa Mandi’s 59th-minute dismissal for a second bookable offence should have made the evening more comfortable but moments later Jonathan David scored with Lille’s only shot on target.
However, unlike at Brentford at the weekend, Liverpool did not require any added-time heroics on this occasion as Elliott smashed home a half-cleared corner with the aid of a deflection off Ngal-Ayel Mukau. There was little of the drama of Darwin Nunez’s late show on Saturday as this was another economical and efficient European performance lit up by a few moments of quality against brave opponents who arrived at Anfield on a 21-game unbeaten run.
