A CERTAIN energy drink claims to give you wings.
Yet Red Bull Salzburg had theirs truly clipped by former players Sadio Mane and Naby Keita who returned to the city where they made their names.
Mo Salah rounded the keeper the score from a remarkable angleCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Liverpool have sealed their spot in the round of 16Credit: AP:Associated Press
And they help transform a situation which was in danger of going horribly wrong for Liverpool and just 100 seconds later and Mo Salah scored from a ridiculously difficult angle with his weaker foot.
So, the European champions are still going strong, still looking extremely greedy when it comes to this mass trophy grab they are attempting.
They are in the draw for the last 16 on Monday and there is not a team who will fancy their chances.
Once again, when it mattered, Jurgen Klopp’s team put their on the line in what was a massively difficult match until they made a breakthrough and then the home team ran out of fizz.
Yet after another exhausting night, the key question remaining is how much long Jurgen Klopp’s team can remain this lively and energetic as the fixtures keep coming fast, including a trip to the Middle East.
Come the start of the year, they will need more than a can of Red Bull they are to keep up the prospect, however unlikely, of winning pretty much anything this season.
And at least Klopp knows that if some of his team are not at their best, he still has an unbelievable goalkeeper at the back in Alisson.
A year ago, it was his stunning injury-time save to keep out Arkadiusz Milik which prevented Napoli from landing a 1-1 draw which would have seen Liverpool eliminated.
But here, he was brave and agile to keep out a team who periods of the first half, were running rings around the Liverpool defence in a way we rarely see.
After conceding for 13 successive matches, Liverpool have now managed clean sheets for two successive matches but at no stage did this look likely.
Salah scored Liverpool’s second of the eveningCredit: Reuters
Naby Keita headed Liverpool ahead in the second halfCredit: Getty Images – Getty
But what a stunning buy Alisson, has proved to be, even though he cost a hefty £67millin from Roma in 2018 and in the first half alone, he was forced to make six saves.
Of all the places Liverpool could have surrendered their sixth European crown, no-one expected it to be here in Salzburg, not that Klopp was underestimating a club, no doubt, will be sending a couple more of this team to the Premier League.
This is a club which has one hell of a conveyor belt of talent – which puts some English clubs to shame – and Norway’s Erling Haaland is the latest to arrive.
Yet it took just 15 seconds for the 19-year-old to know what it takes to beat a player like Virgil van Dijk, who used his body to stop the 6ft 4ins Leeds-born striker from scoring his 29th of the season.
Haaland was a menace in the first half both with his movement and physicality, although he did fade in the second half and was also given much less service. But there is no doubt, though, that Haaland is going to be an absolute superstar.
When he did completely overpower Dejan Lovren to fire a decent shot, Alisson was equal to it.
And Alisson had already delivered a brilliant double save to keep out both the lively Hee-Chan Hwang and Takumi Minamino within a space of seconds.
The miss of the evening was down to Salah when he somehow missed with his favoured left foot but as the Egyptian proved later in the evening, nothing really fazes him.
Salah could have had four goals by the time Haaland hammered the ball into the side-netting at the start of the second half and from that moment, the match changed, Salzburg lost their belief and Liverpool looked far too clever and experienced.
Alexander-Arnold played a brilliant ball across to Andy Robertson and he released Mane, who had been Liverpool’s best player. He was helped by Stankovic rushing off his line and crossed for Keita to head into an empty net.
Salzburg centre-back Jerome Onguene was at fault for being turned by Mane and he was also to blame for the second which herald the end of Salzburg’s CHampions League ride.
Onguene delivered a terrible header in an attempt to cut out a brilliant pass from Jordan Henderson. Stankovic rushed out but Salah looked as though he had pushed the ball far too ride before somehow scoring from the most acute of angles.
Liverpool missed lots of chances after that but it really did not matter.
Now, they prepare for Saturday’s home game with Watford before a flight to Qatar on Sunday for the Club World Cup – while the youngsters take on Aston Villa in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
We are now in Liverpool’s most difficult spell not just of this season, but of any campaign over the last few years.
But so far, Klopp’s side keeping passing those tests.
Salah somehow managed to score with his weaker foot from this angleCredit: BT Sport
Klopp was in celebratory mood at the full-time whistleCredit: AP:Associated Press
Jurgen Klopp’s frustration with his translator boils over as he takes over in press conference
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
