Jurgen Klopp sounded very happy there. And can you blame him when he gets to watch this team all the time? Another win for Liverpool, another European night to savour. That’s all from me tonight. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.
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Jurgen Klopp speaks! “The plan was to start really direct. We didn;t know how they defended. We didn’t want to start in small spaces. But we did it a bit too long. It was not too bad. Shaq played some good balls. We calmed down. Created some good chances. It was a really good game. I enjoyed it a lot. They defended with great heart. It could have been difficult. But it wasn’t. It was so good to see Adam coming, Danny coming, making the next step. The passes Daniel played were outstanding. It was a really good performance. The two sixes played really well. It was a good football game and a deserved win. Shaq is involved in everything. He was decisive in the first two goals. The second one, I have to watch that back. A really nice footballer. I don’t even know who is second. I heard Paris equalised really late. I can imagine it was lively. It will stay exciting. This group is a tough one for all of us so we need to be ready.”
Here’s Andy Hunter’s match report from Anfield.
Mo Salah shrugs off a question about Liverpool’s first penalty and says he’s just happy to have scored his 50th goal for the club.
Virgil Van Dijk speaks! “They are in the Champions League for a good reason, so we need to respect them. At the beginning of the game it was a bit of chaos. Bur after 20 minutes we controlled the game.”
Jurgen Klopp will be delighted that his Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane all scored tonight. Liverpool were never going to lose this match. The main objective was surely for their front three to find some goalscoring form. Mission accomplished on that front. And let’s not forget that Liverpool are in a good position at the midway point. They’ll expect to beat Red Star Belgrade again in two weeks and that would set them up nicely for their trip to PSG and their home game against Napoli.
It’s finished PSG 2-2 Napoli in Paris. That means Liverpool top Group C with six points from three games. Napoli are second with five points, PSG are third with four and Red Star are bottom with one. It’s a very tight three-way tussle for those two last-16 spots. Liverpool will have another chance to take a step towards the knockout phase when they visit Red Star Belgrade on 6 November. And who knows what will happen when Napoli host PSG? That Angel Di Maria goal could be huge. PSG would have been in a very tough position without it.
Angel Di Maria has bent in a magnificent equaliser to make it PSG 2-2 Napoli in Paris. “Your Sturridge-the-new-Bergkamp remark conjured up a vivid image of the Dutch master celebrating a goal by vigorously throwing shapes near the corner flag,” Peter Oh parps.
Full-time: Liverpool 4-0 Red Star Belgrade
That’s your lot!
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90 min+4: Sturridge shoots straight at Borjan.
90 min+3: Firmino slides in Mane, who ignores Lallana to his right and shoots into the side netting.
90 min+1: Moreno volleys over from 30 yards. There will be three added minutes.
90 min: Sturridge fancies a repeat of his Chelsea stunner but Borjan leaps to his left to push the striker’s piledriver wide.
88 min: Gobeljic gets a booking.
85 min: Jovancic sees yellow for chopping down Firmino.
82 min: Alberto Moreno replaces the hugely popular Andy Robertson.
81 min: Sturridge, playmaker extraordinaire, the new Bergkamp, slips a pass through to the onrushing Lallana. The midfielder surges through but he runs out of steam at the end and fails to beat Borjan, who saves with his legs.
Red Star make problems for themselves with a poor attempt to play out from the back. That gives Sturridge a chance to release Mane. For a moment it looks like his touch has got away from him but he has the pace to roll the ball past Borjan for his first goal in seven matches.
GOAL! Liverpool 4-0 Red Star Belgrade (Mane, 80 min)
The penalty miss is forgotten!
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79 min: Oh my! Dries Mertens has made it PSG 1-2 Napoli in the other game in Group C.
PENALTY SAVED!
76 min: With Salah off, Sadio Mane steps up in search of a goal. But he never really looks confident and his rising penalty’s too close to Borjan, who springs to his right to tip the ball on to the bar. Mane’s the first to the rebound but he’s under pressure and his weak prod dribbles away from goal and Red Star survive.
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PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL!
75 min: Alexander-Arnold whips the free-kick in from the right and Ben Nabouhane, the one-man wall, manages to head the ball against his own arm. That’s harsh.
74 min: Sturridge feeds Robertson and the left-back’s low cross forces Babic to make a crucial intervention in the six-yard box. The ball comes back to Robertson, who’s chopped down by Jovicic. He’s booked and he screams at the referee. It’s just as well he’s about to be replaced by Goran Causic.
73 min: Jovancic rolls through midfield and plays a pass to the left, with Liverpool exposed. Until Gomez steps in to cut the danger out, that is. Smooth defending. He even wins a goal-kick, which gives Klopp a chance to replace Mo Salah with Daniel Sturridge.
69 min: Srnic finds space on the right and shoots first time. The ball’s heading wide but Ben Nabhouane tries to slide in at the far post. The ball just evades him.
68 min: Adam Lallana replaces Xherdan Shaqiri, who had a very good game.
67 min: Liverpool are about to introduce Adam Lallana.
64 min: Dusan Jovancic replaces Lorenzo Ebicilio. Meanwhile PSG have levelled against Napoli thanks to an own goal from Marco Rui.
62 min: Shaqiri tries to prod a pass into the area. A deflection takes it to Salah, who has a swing and a miss, allowing Red Star to clear.
59 min: It’s still PSG 0-1 Napoli. That’s the interesting game in this group tonight.
54 min: Liverpool are starting to have fun now. Fabinho bends a lovely pass from right to left but Alexander-Arnold can’t steer his volley over Borjan. Moments later Krsticic picks up a booking for fouling Shaqiri.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 Red Star Belgrade (Salah pen, 51 min)
Salah ignores Red Star’s protests and hammers the penalty down the middle for his second of the evening. Stojkovic is shaking his head and laughing. You see that kind of challenge in every game! Not that Liverpool care.
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PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL!
50 min: Mane darts into the area from the left and seems to overrun the ball. But Mane falls over when Stojkovic puts his arm across his chest as he shields the ball out of play. First it seems the referee isn’t interested. But then he points to the spot! That is so soft. Stojkovic is booked for his furious protests.
48 min: Mane tees up Fabinho, who slices wide from 25 yards.
46 min: Liverpool get the second half underway. As it stands in Group C, Napoli are top with seven points, then it’s Liverpool with six, PSG with three and Red Star with one. Napoli still lead 1-0 in Paris.
Liverpool 2-0 Red Star Belgrade
Jurgen Klopp’s side haven’t been at their best but they’re in control thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah.
Gini Wijnaldum starts the move, driving a ball through to Xherdan Shaqiri on the edge of the Red Star area. It isn’t an easy pass for Shaqiri to take - not that he’s bothered. He cushions a lovely ball through to Salah, who uses his right foot to lash a rising shot past Borjan for his second goal in two games. A lovely goal and that should be that.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Red Star Belgrade (Salah, 45 min)
That’s how to make up for that corner.
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43 min: Liverpool ping the ball around quickly, all one-touch stuff, and it doesn’t take long for them to open up Red Star on the right. Mane’s touch runs to Robertson, who gets a little bit excited and blazes high and wide.
42 min: Salah’s corner is a disgrace, whipped straight into the side netting. That’s the last one he’ll ever take. You almost wonder if he was going for goal. Klopp looks unimpressed.
41 min: Borjan claims Shaqiri’s delivery. Liverpool win the ball back, though, and Salah earns a corner on the right.
40 min: Jovccic fouls Fabinho around 30 yards from goal. Shaqiri’s sizing up the angles.
38 min: Shaqiri cuts inside from the right and shoots straight at Borjan from 20 yards.
35 min: Srnic reaches the byline on the left and skews his cross out for a goal-kick.
32 min: Wijnaldum bursts through a lame challenge in midfield and finds Mane, who releases Salah with a magnificent backheel. It’s only when Salah takes the shot, which is saved by Borjan, that the flag goes up.
30 min: Lorenzo Insigne has made it PSG 0-1 Napoli. Which is good news for Liverpool.
26 min: Firmino and Mane work the ball to Robertson on the left but the full-back overhits his cross to the far post. He’s such a good outlet, though.
25 min: Mane skips down the left and sends a cross into the Red Star area. It’s a good ball but the unmarked Salah scuffs his shot. You’d have to assume more goals are on the way, though.
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22 min: Liverpool are straight back on the attack, hunting a quick second, but Firmino’s backheel towards Mane is one pass too many.
Liverpool quicken the pace, winning the ball in midfield as Red Star try to break. That’s more like it. Suddenly there’s more urgency and that’s followed by an injection of quality from Shaqiri, who slips a brilliant pass through to Robertson on the left. The left-back cuts the ball back from the byline, zipping it to Firmino, who sets himself before seeing his shot take a slight deflection and fly over Borjan. That should lift the tension.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Red Star Belgrade (Firmino, 20 min)
This is an excellent goal!
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19 min: Salah darts down the right and combines with Fabinho. But when Salah tries to turn on the edge of the area, Stojkovic stands firm and wins the ball.
17 min: Stojkovic falls over Mane’s outstretched leg on the right. No free-kick. But Stojkovic gets back to his feet to win a corner for Red Star. The visitors are pressing. Ebecilio whips it in and no one in red tracks Babic’s run from deep. The defender’s allowed to creep into the six-yard box and he should give Red Star the lead, only to volley over from close range! Serbian heads are in Serbian hands.
16 min: We haven’t seen much from Liverpool’s front three yet. To be fair, they aren’t getting much service. Unfamiliarity in midfield isn’t helping.
15 min: “I see that Liverpool’s Swiss-Albanian playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri is starting against opposition from Serbia tonight,” Peter Oh says. “In a recent international match between Switzerland and Serbia, he took some heat for making a politically-charged, inflammatory gesture during a goal celebration. The gesture involved interlocking his thumbs to make a double-headed eagle. Try it out when you get a break from tapping your keyboard!”
12 min: After a brief delay, Borjan gets back to his feet, winces and points at his left wrist when the referee comes to check on him. On we go.
11 min: This is more like it from Liverpool, Shaqiri lifting a fine pass over the top of the Red Star defence to Salah. The Egyptian’s control is good as the pass drops out of the air but Borjan is out quickly to smother as Salah tries to take the ball round him. It’s brave goalkeeping from Borjan and he takes a whack from Salah for his troubles. He stays down and needs some treatment.
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10 min: Liverpool attack coherently for the first time. Gomez wins the ball high and that leads to Firminho and Salah almost combining. The ball breaks to Firmino, who decides to lash one goalwards from the right of the area. The shot hits Alexander-Arnold, though, and flies behind.
9 min: Red Star continue to probe in Liverpool’s half, flinging a couple of crosses into the area. It’s a bit edgy at Anfield at the moment. There’s no flow to Liverpool’s game yet.
6 min: Red Star have made quite a good start. They aren’t sitting back. Liverpool haven’t settled yet and the visitors are looking to make the most of their early possession.
5 min: Ben Nabhouane turns cleverly on the right and wins a free-kick off Robertson. A chance for Red Star. But Alexander-Arnold heads the free-kick away.
4 min: In the other game in this group, it’s PSG v Napoli. You can follow that here.
3 min: Salah tries to burst down the right but Degenek’s across to shepherd the ball out of play. Moments later Boakye tries to run behind the Liverpool defence but the flag goes up for offside.
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Peep! Red Star, in navy kits and kicking towards the Kop in the first half, get the game underway. Liverpool are all in red. Jurgen Klopp is wearing a baseball cap. Plus other clothes. He’s wrapped up warm. Quite right, too. It’s getting cold. I just sneezed.
Here come the teams. There’s an expectant mood rather than a febrile one at Anfield this evening. The home crowd will be anticipating a few goals from their side. Red Star Belgrade will have other ideas. Anyway it’s time for the Champions League anthem! Disgracefully none of the players sing along. They can all expect a stern call from Uefa tomorrow.
Tottenham have drawn 2-2 with PSV Eindhoven in Group B. That’s less than ideal. They could do with Barcelona smashing Internazionale now.
Jurgen Klopp speaks! “I don’t know if you can expect an away win at Napoli to be honest. I think the home games in the Champions League, with the quality of the other teams, you should not waste time. We have to try everything to win the game to have a normal situation, which doesn’t mean we are halfway through the group. It only means we have a normal situation, winning two home games and losing an away game. That’s it. Not more pressure. Only enough. Red Star were hard to break down in both games, even if the result in the PSG game sounds different. It is a very experienced side and they are used to getting results. They fight for results. That is what they will do now again.”
Pre-match reading
Liverpool make five changes to the side that beat Huddersfield on the weekend. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gini Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane replace Dejan Lovren, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana. They possess impressive strength in depth at the moment.
Red Star Belgrade make one change to the side that beat Rad Beograd on the weekend. Out goes Veljko Simic, in comes El Fardou Ben Nabouhane.
Team news
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Shaqiri; Salah, Firmino, Mane. Subs: Mignolet, Moreno, Lovren, Milner, Sturridge, Lallana, Origi.
Red Star Belgrade: Borjan; Stojkovic, Babic, Degenek, Gobeljic; Krsticic, Jovicic; Srnic, Ebecilio, Ben Nabouhane; Boakye. Subs: Popovic, Pavkov, Stoiljkovic, Causic, Simic, Savic, Jovancic.
Referee: Daniel Siebert (GER).
Preamble
Hello. Boring, boring Liverpool! After setting the pulse racing with their freewheeling attacking last season, Jurgen Klopp’s side have been a little more circumspect at the start of this campaign. They’ve only scored four goals in their last five matches and even settled for a 1-0 score line against Huddersfield last weekend, suggesting that Klopp is morphing into Germany’s answer to George Graham before our very eyes. Apparently this astonishing transformation is because Liverpool are concentrating more on ridding the spirit of Loris Karius from Anfield at the moment. But it might just be because their main attacking talents are slightly out of form at the moment. It’s been known to happen.
Even so, it’s a problem that wants fixing sooner rather than later. Liverpool’s movement has congealed in recent weeks and although it hasn’t had a major effect on their results in the Premier League, they find themselves in a tense situation in their Champions League group after stumbling against Napoli earlier this month. That defeat in Naples has given Klopp’s side some work to do in order to make the last 16, even though they still occupy second place thanks to their superior head-to-head record over Paris Saint-Germain.
It’s tight in Group C and Liverpool need to make the right moves in their double-header with Red Star Belgrade, the supposed whipping boys, before resuming hostitlies with Napoli and PSG. Red Star looked out of their depth against PSG last time out, losing 6-1 to the French champions, but they did hold Napoli in their opening game. They’ll come with a plan to frustrate. Klopp could do with Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane to fin their shooting boots in front of an expectant Anfield crowd this evening.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
