Liverpool maintained their perfect record in the Champions League as Luis Diaz’s second-half hat-trick propelled them to an astonishing 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen at Anfield to move to the top of the table.
.Arne Slot’s side had found Xabi Alonso’s Bundesliga champions to be awkward opponents in the first half but the fireworks came from Liverpool after the hour mark with two beautiful goals in quick succession through Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo.
Diaz’s first, a dinked finish, came after Curtis Jones sprung the offside trap, unlocking Leverkusen’s defence, and the Reds soon did it again even if the assistant missed it – a VAR check was needed to spot Gakpo was onside from Mohamed Salah’s cross.
Diaz added two more to inflict only the third defeat in two seasons for Alonso’s team on his first competitive return to Anfield since departing in 2009. He was the standout coach last season. With 14 wins from 16 now, Slot is making his own case this year.
Liverpool did it again, finding two goals in a flash to transform the mood of the match and take the game away from a Leverkusen side that must have fancied their chances of picking up a famous win. They are not the first to think that only to be overwhelmed.
Brighton had believed they were on course for victory at the weekend before succumbing to two quick goals. Only a lengthy delay for a VAR check provided the respite for Leverkusen between Diaz’s clever finish and Gakpo’s thumping header.
Alonso knows this atmosphere well, of course, and seemed to sense it coming just moments before the breakthrough goal – holding onto the ball to prevent Trent Alexander-Arnold taking a throw-in before gesticulating to his players to calm down.
Remarkably, in a sport now micro-managed by coach-tacticians, momentum still finds a way deciding high-level matches like an uncontrollable force. Slot has made Liverpool a little more measured. But this quality is still in the game. At Anfield, it always will be.
Following their impressive comeback win against Brighton, Jamie Carragher breaks down how the ‘Anfield factor’ helps to boost Liverpool’s performances
Liverpool boss Arne Slot in the press conference:
“It is always better for a manager that this happens than when they start to boo.
“It’s special. I think it was special from the start and therefore I think I have to thank Jurgen [Klopp] because he was the one that came up with the song.
“It’s always special if you are a player, if they sing for you. Some players get used to this but I am not. They only sang for me [as a player] a few times.
“People singing for a manager is not that common, at least not in Holland. Maybe here it happens a lot.
“It was nice to hear today, but I also liked it a lot that after that they sang for Xabi as well because he’s been so special for this club, so he deserves it for his achievements with Liverpool.”
Liverpool boss Arne Slot:
“You all look at the goals Lucho [Diaz] and Cody score but I also look at the fact how hard they track back and how much they have to defend and I ask a lot from them so that’s why we rotate them.
“For me Lucho is a starter and Cody is a starter for me also.”
Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso in the press conference:
“I can say many things. I can explain many things. But I cannot control this atmosphere that is created. I know the feeling of the Liverpool players, they feel it.
“And that’s an extra boost that they feel that, okay, now is the moment, now they are behind us and now we go. And to defend in those moments, it’s not easy.
“We have tried to prepare before the game. We were ready for that. We have our strategies. But at the end, it’s difficult.
“And we were not able to do that, like what happened to Brighton on Saturday. That’s why to put it in words, to say it in words, it is much more difficult to do it on the pitch.”
On the reception that he received from the Liverpool fans:
“One thing is the game and the other thing is the reception.
“I have a bitter feeling with the game that did not allow me to enjoy that much the reception. But anyway, I really appreciate it.
“I’m thankful that even after so many years, I come here and I have that moment with the club. It was nice. But it could have been nicer with a better result.”
