OX FIRES A CRACKER

Prize guy Alex sparkles to lift Reds out of the fog

JURGEN KLOPP had vowed Liverpool’s focus would not shift to Sunday and Manchester City until after this Champions League encounter.

He could have fooled us. On a night choked by the fog of thousands of fireworks, his team spluttered and coughed their way to victory with barely a bang, let alone an explosion of colour.

They had Alex OxladeChamberlain to thank for the victory that puts them on the verge of qualification for the knockout stages.

Beating Napoli would guarantee it, but against a poor Genk team this was not the bonfire party they had in mind.

In fact, the visitors had chances to add to the Reds’ embarrassment, with Alisson producing a fine save late on from Bryan Heynen that would have poured cold water all over their burning ambition of European glory.

The smoke-filled air gave Anfield a sepia, grainy tinge, echoing those days when Liverpool first wrote their name in European legend.

It was fitting as 55 years ago almost to the day, the allred kit synonymous with the glory years was unveiled, and against Belgian opponents too, with Anderlecht beaten 3-0 on November 4, 1964.

That was Bill Shankly’s first great team – losing only in the semi-final of that season’s European Cup amid claims of match fixing by Inter Milan.

Roger Hunt and Ian St John scored, with skipper Ron Yeats also on target. Perhaps the greatest thing to be said about Jurgen Klopp is he has built a side boasting names as illustrious.

Virgil van Dijk has a touch of the Yeats, while Mo Salah has come closest to emulating Hunt’s incredible scoring rate.

Yet it was Genk who shocked their hosts in what had looked a tie so routine Klopp had the luxury of resting some big names.

There seemed little evidence of the drama to come when Liverpool parked outside the Genk box, probing for an opening that arrived on 14 minutes.

It was a fine finish too from Gini Wijnaldum, who flicked into the roof of the net when two defenders failed to deal with a cross.

From there, more goals seemed inevitable, Salah twice shooting wide when well placed, and Naby Keita also spurning a chance. There is something troubling about Liverpool this season though, for all their triumphant march through the Premier League campaign so far.

Coming into the game, they had not kept a clean sheet in seven matches, and Genk extended that run.

There was a warning when Alexander-Arnold’s last-ditch lunge denied Ally Mbwana Samatta, but from the resulting corner, he was left unmarked to thump home a header.

There were surely half-time fireworks in the dressing room from Klopp and Liverpool had more spark in the second half.

Divock Origi set the tone against his former club with a burst down the left to open up the defence.

From there, the ball was worked to Salah, who cleverly fed Oxlade-Chamberlain and his shot on the turn found the far corner.

2-1 Oxlade-Chamberlain thumps home the second-half winner for Liverpool