Mohamed Salah may have made his long-awaited return to action for Liverpool on Wednesday, but it was Dominik Szoboszlai who stole the show as Arne Slot’s side took a massive step towards automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League with a massive 3-0 win in Marseille. While all eyes were on Salah on his first start for the Reds since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations – not to mention his stunning attack on Slot back in December – the Egyptian had a pretty poor game.
Liverpool, though, produced arguably their most complete performance for months, and Szoboszlai was one of the main reasons why. As well as pressing with his usual levels of intensity and creating several chances, the Hungary international made amends for his penalty miss against Burnley on the weekend by opening the scoring with an ingenious first-half free-kick, with the midfielder sweeping the ball under Marseille’s jumping wall and into the back of the net.
Roberto De Zerbi’s side, it must be said, made for very accommodating hosts, and although they improved somewhat after a wretched opening 45 minutes, Liverpool doubled their lead when Geronimo Rulli could only divert Jeremie Frimpong’s dangerous low cross into his own net before Cody Gakpo came off the bench to seal a morale-boosting win for Slot and his players with a neat, injury-time finish.
GOAL rates all of the Liverpool players on show at the Stade Velodrome, as the Reds climbed to fourth in the league phase table ahead of their final game at Anfield next week, against Qarabag…
Goalkeeper & Defense
Alisson Becker (8/10):
Was alert to very dangerous cross early on and dealt well with a couple of decent strikes from Gouiri and Greenwood before earning his clean sheet with a terrific late save to deny Aubameyang.
Jeremie Frimpong (8/10):
Whether the Dutchman’s best position is really right-back remains up for the debate, but he was very impressive here, defending diligently and posing a constant threat on the break with his blistering pace. Indeed, it was not in the least bit surprising that Liverpool’s crucial second goal came from a brilliant – and tenacious – bit of wing-play from Frimpong.
Joe Gomez (7/10):
A rare start for the injury-prone centre-back but he had a hugely encouraging game standing in for Konate and even had an early chance to end his infamous scoring drought. Liverpool will now be praying he can stay fit for the remainder of the season.
Virgil van Dijk (7/10):
Did very well to snuff out a promising Marseille attack early on and was his usual composed self throughout. Also went close to putting some of his forwards through on goal with raking passes over the top.
Milos Kerkez (7/10):
Really starting to look like the player Liverpool thought they’d signed from Bournemouth. Played with great intensity and made himself a real nuisance down the left-hand side.
Midfield
Ryan Gravenberch (8/10):
Helped Liverpool control the game with his recovery and use of the ball, with the Dutchman responsible for playing some lovely little passes in between the lines and teeing up Gakpo for his late goal with a classic surge into the final third.
Alexis Mac Allister (7/10):
The Argentine was much more lively than he has been of late, and went close with a decent early effort form the edge of the area. However, while he was very progressive in his passing, he was blessed to get away with an atrocious first touch that should have resulted in a breakaway goal for Marseille.
Dominik Szoboszlai (8/10):
As usual, led the Liverpool press to great effect, but also created two wonderful chances for Ekitike, while his set-piece strike was ridiculously clever. And just reward for another fine all-round performance.
Attack
Mohamed Salah (5/10):
Went straight back into the starting line-up after returning from international duty but, aside from one audacious flick from a Frimpong cross that ended up on the roof of the net, the Egyptian was pretty quiet before wasting a glorious chance created by Gakpo in the dying minutes.
Hugo Ekitike (7/10):
The Frenchman once again led the line brilliantly. His hold-up play was excellent and he was a constant threat. However, with his pace, there was no need for him to be offside on his disallowed goal, and he really should have scored after being slipped in by Szoboszlai.
Florian Wirtz (7/10):
The German has been in good goal-scoring form in recent weeks but he failed to make the most of the opportunities that came his way here. Still, Wirtz was a joy to watch at times, with his fantastic first touch and ability to skip past tackles making him a real problem for opponents.
Subs & Manager
Cody Gakpo (7/10):
The much-maligned attacker made a massive impact off the bench, putting Salah straight through on goal shortly after coming on before then completing the scoring with a well-taken goal with pretty much the last kick of the game.
Curtis Jones (6/10):
Part of a double-substitution with Gakpo, Jones really put himself about in the closing stages as Liverpool took the game away from Marseille.
Arne Slot (8/10):
An excellent night for the under-fire Dutchman, who deserves credit for picking such offensively-minded full-backs in such circumstances. Salah may not have been brilliant, but Liverpool looked much better going forward than usual, while they were also excellent defensively. All things considered, then, Slot will be feeling much better about life ahead of this weekend’s trip to Bournemouth, because while Liverpool are still struggling in England, they’re looking like a real threat in Europe.
