Liverpool ‘switch off’ domestic woes to advance to CL quarter-finals
Liverpool eased past RB Leipzig into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-0 win in Budapest on Wednesday that coach Jurgen Klopp said helps his side put their Premier League woes to one side.
Repeating their rapid-fire double act from the first leg, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane again struck within four second-half minutes to give the Reds a 4-0 aggregate win and keep alive Liverpool’s hopes of rescuing their miserable domestic season with European glory.
After six successive defeats at Anfield and dropping to eighth place in the Premier League, Klopp’s men looked relieved to be away from home, with the second leg also played in the Hungarian capital due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
“They were outstanding. We had to switch off the Premier League stuff to get here and to try. To give it a proper try,” Klopp told BT Sport.
“The boys really enjoyed themselves tonight which is important.
Salah said: “It is a big result for us.
“We lost a few games in the Premier League, the team are not in the best shape but we want to fight in the Champions League.
“It’s been tough in the Premier League, everybody can see that. The last couple of years we were winning, we were flying.
“This year we had a couple of injuries so we were unlucky, we are trying to fix that but it is hard.”
While the Reds showed attacking intent from the off, they squandered a string of chances throughout the first half.
“First-half we created massive chances and didn’t score which is a thing we have in 2021,” said Klopp.
Unmarked at a corner, Diogo Jota should have opened their account in the 18th minute but the Portuguese striker headed straight at Hungarian goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi who tipped over.
Leipzig, flying domestically on the back of six straight Bundesliga wins but nervy in Budapest, urgently needed a goal to rattle Liverpool but continued to lack penetration in the second half.
In truth, Julian Nagelsmann’s men, who dumped Tottenham out at this stage of the competition last year and Manchester United in the group stage this season, rarely looked like claiming an even bigger scalp by turning the tie around.
In the 70th minute, Salah fired
a shot past Gulacsi, then four minutes later Mane turned a cross by substitute Divock Origi past the hapless Hungarian.
“The best thing that the boys did is that no one could see how good Leipzig can be.”
“We defended them really well because they are a monster. They usually are so powerful.
“We want to win football games, we feel it now for the first time in a while and it is a massive difference.”