By David Awopetu
Liverpool have the edge in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg tie against Leipzig thanks to second-half strikes from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané.
Despite controlling a majority of the game, it took 53 minutes for Liverpool to break the deadlock as Salah pounced on a loose back pass before funnelling coolly into Péter Gulácsi’s bottom corner. Minutes later, Leipzig’s shaky back line was punished once again, with Mané on call to double Liverpool’s lead and secure a two-goal advantage going into the second leg.
In a meeting between two of the greatest football minds to have come out of Germany, Julian Nagelsmann and Klopp both sent their teams out to play with aggression and press high. It resulted in a very watchable encounter in the early stages with the Germans almost opening the scoring after just five minutes but Dani Olmo’s header from an Angelino cross smacked back off the post.
From that moment, Liverpool took over, pressing high and restricting Nagelsmann’s side any space in midfield with Thiago and Curtis Jones snapping into tackles all over the pitch. Trent Alexander-Arnold was back to his creative best down the right, providing a wonderful pass to Salah on 14 minutes but the finish was palmed clear by Peter Gulacsi.
Mane headed over from eight yards when well found by Roberto Firmino on 24 minutes before Andrew Robertson came within inches of scoring a spectacular lob from 40 yards after Gulasci’s clearance dropped to the Scotsman. Firmino had the ball in the net minutes later when heading home from a Mane poked cross from the by-line but the ball had just crossed the line and was spotted by the assistant referee.
Liverpool then hit Leipzig with a quickfire double to turn the tie firmly in their favour.
Marcel Sabitzer – usually so reliable with the ball – played a lacklustre ball back to Lukas Klostermann which turned into a perfect through ball to Salah, who was alive to the danger. He galloped through on goal and finished in his usual clinical nature, taking his tally for the season to 25 goals in all competitions.
Leipzig then crumbled defensively in similar fashion to the way Liverpool did at Leicester on Saturday. Nordi Mukiele had looked in panicky mood all night up against Mane and misjudged a long ball forward which allowed the Liverpool winger to race through on goal, just like Salah a few minutes earlier. The result was almost identical as he stayed cool and made it 2-0 with a neat finish.
This was a much-needed clean sheet for Alisson and his defence – Liverpool’s first in eight matches – and an equally vital result for Klopp, whose side showed that a second Champions League title under his watch remains a possibility.
