For all of Liverpool’s inconsistencies and stumbles so far this season, they will at least have Champions League football to look forward to in the new year after securing a place in the knockout stages. Three goals in 10 minutes, either side of half time, saw Liverpool defeat Ajax and wrap up qualification.
A first-half goal from Mo Salah, and two in as many minutes early in the second half from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott,, had Liverpool continuing from where they left off in the stunning 7-1 thrashing off Rangers in Glasgow two weeks ago. Clearly, Liverpool’s troubled away form no longer extends to Europe.
However, their Group A campaign began in worrying fashion with a 4-1 defeat at Napoli last month, but it must say something of the resolve in Jurgen Klopp’s team that they have since coasted into the last-16 with one game to spare. Next week’s home match with high-flying Napoli will determine the group winners.
Story of the game
The first 40 minutes at the Johan Cruyff ArenA were far from vintage Liverpool. Klopp’s team have failed to muster momentum this season and the opening exchanges in Amsterdam reflected Liverpool’s domestic troubles, which have seen them lose three league games already this term.
The visitors did take the lead against the run of play three minutes before the break. Salah, who scored a six-minute hat-trick in his last Champions League outing, settled Liverpool’s nerves and was aided by poor goalkeeping from Remo Pasveer.
Jordan Henderson played an inviting cross from the left flank with the outside of his boot for Salah. As the Ajax ‘keeper raced out of his goal, the Egyptian was able to guide the ball around him and into an empty net. It was Salah’s sixth goal in this season’s competition and proved a lightning jolt for Liverpool after a lacklustre opening.
Only two minutes later Nunez should have put the tie beyond all reasonable doubt when he appeared on the end of a superb passing move, involving Andy Robertson and a selfless pass from Roberto Firmino, but the Uruguayan striker could only find the woodwork despite the empty goal before him.
Liverpool heading in at the break two goals ahead would have been tough on Ajax, who needed a win to retain any hope of staying in the competition. The home team should have been at least one goal in front before Salah struck with Steven Berghuis squandering a glorious chance and hit the post within the first two minutes.
Another chance came and went when Steven Bergwijn delivered the ball forward and Ajax had a three-against-one close to the Liverpool area. But Dusan Tadic fired the ball straight at Trent Alexander-Arnold and the home gallery let out a cry of frustration.
Prior to Salah’s opener, the closest Liverpool had come to threatening Ajax’s goal was a Robertson effort into the side-netting when a centred cross would have been a better option. But such missed opportunities didn’t cost Klopp’s team as they raced into a three-goal lead after the break.
Four minutes into the new half and Nunez, who was partnering Salah at the fore of the visitors’ 4-3-1-2 formation, met Robertson’s corner and steered an unstoppable header past Pasveer. From the next attack, Alexander-Arnold found Salah whose pass played Elliott in on goal. The 19-year-old scored his first Champions League goal two weeks ago and now has another after firing an impressive shot into the roof of the net from a tight angle.
The third goal sunk Ajax, who were now resigned to their fate, and the final half-hour saw Klopp make all five of his substitutions with an eye on the packed schedule that has his side playing five more games before the World Cup break. Champions League football will await them after that.
Player of the match: Mo Salah
A goal and an assist for Salah as he led Liverpool to this important victory in the Netherlands. Like the rest of his team-mates, Salah was slow out of the blocks against Ajax but his goal provided the spark that the visitors needed. He was instrumental in prising Ajax open and he finished the game with a passing accuracy of 94 per cent.