Liverpool Secure 1-0 Win Over Leipzig In Champions League Thriller

Leipzig, THE NEWSHAUS:  Liverpool maintained their perfect start to the Champions League group stage with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over RB Leipzig at Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night.

The Reds, led by manager Arne Slot, recorded their 11th win in 12 matches across all competitions since Slot’s arrival at Anfield.

Darwin Nunez’s first-half goal proved decisive, but the German hosts pushed Liverpool hard, forcing several crucial saves from Caoimhin Kelleher in the latter stages of the match.

Speaking after the match, Slot expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance: “I liked a lot what I saw. Many times we played through their press, opened up their midfield and went for an attack.

That led to the first goal, which led to a few chances – more than a few. It’s a pity that you still need your two centre-backs to play such a big game and your goalkeeper to make two such important saves because a game like this should have been ours after 60, 70 minutes and it wasn’t.”

Slot praised the contributions of both Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah in the lead-up to Nunez’s goal, highlighting the Uruguayan’s overall performance:

“What I liked from Darwin was that he was also strong, comfortable on the ball, kept the ball a lot, fighting if he had to defend, so he made it a really difficult game for the two centre-backs of Leipzig.”

Despite the tight scoreline, Slot was adamant that his side had dominated for the majority of the game: “I am not worried at all about this game; I was a bit more worried if you want to call it like this, after the Chelsea game.

“But this is how I like to see our team play: much more chances than the other team, much more ball possession, much more time freeing up the midfield from build-up.”

Slot confirmed that the substitution of Salah in the second half was a precautionary measure with Sunday’s match against Arsenal in mind: “Also it’s a tough fixture list that we have, so I need to take good care of the players that have played a lot. And on Sunday a big game is coming up again.

“So, I need to use as many players as I can for these next tough weeks and these tough months that are coming up so that they are all prepared to play.”

Regarding Liverpool’s recent record-breaking run, Slot acknowledged the significance of the achievements but emphasised the importance of trophies: “Records are nice, but there is something else that is nicer than records, and we both know what I mean, I think – that’s trophies.”

The win sets Liverpool up nicely for the upcoming Premier League clash against Arsenal, a crucial match in the early stages of the season.