Werner out to purge besiktas pain
london — Mohamed Salah has hogged the headlines this season, but as Liverpool’s 5-1 demolition of Brighton and Hove Albion demonstrated, he is but one component in a scintillating attacking armada.
Salah took a back seat at the Amex Stadium on Saturday, contenting himself with an assist as Roberto Firmino scored twice and Philippe Coutinho found the net with a delightful free-kick beneath the jumping Brighton wall.
With five wins in their last six games, Liverpool have returned to the Premier League top four for the first time since August.
Their one misstep in recent weeks was the 3-3 draw at Sevilla in the Champions League, in which their failure to protect a 3-0 lead left them requiring at least a point at home to Spartak Moscow on Wednesday to reach the last 16 with Salah in the spotlight.
In other matches, Sevilla are in Slovenia and expect a win from their tie with Maribor. Real Madrid take on Borussia Dortmund at the Bernabeu knowing they will finish LEIPZIG — Germany striker Timo Werner hopes to purge painful memories of Istanbul with a win over Turkish champions Besiktas on Wednesday that would fire RB Leipzig into the Champions League’s last 16.
When the teams last met in September Werner had to leave the field, feeling dizzy and in clear distress, after only 32 minutes of his side’s 2-0 defeat at Besiktas’ Vodafone Park.
His dizziness was the result of blocked neck muscles, which kept him out for the next three weeks. “My body had just reached a point where it said, ‘enough is enough’, I felt dizzy, there was a lot of pressure on the game, my first second in Group H no matter what while APOEL Nicosia stride out at Wembley Stadium to face group winners Tottenham.
Manchester City polish off their Champions League match, and I just didn’t feel good,” he told broadcaster ZDF.
“It was my first serious injury and not a pleasant experience.”
Werner scored twice in Leipzig’s 4-1 win battering of Monaco a fortnight ago to keep their hopes of reaching the knock-out stage alive, while Besiktas are already through as group winners. Leipzig are third in Group G, level with Porto on seven points, and the Germans must pick up more points against Besiktas than Porto do at home to eliminated Monaco if they are to snatch second spot and reach the last 16 in their first Champions League campaign. — Group F fixtures with the long trip to play second placed Shakhtar Donetsk in Kharkiv after sealing first place with five wins from five whileNapoli eye a win at Feyenoord.
Unbeaten Besiktas and RB Leipzig highlight a Group G clash and rock-bottom Monaco travel to Porto with absolutely nothing to play for whatsoever.
Meanwhile, having scored 25 goals in their last eight games in all competitions, Liverpool are playing with as much verve and confidence as in any previous phase of manager Jurgen Klopp’s two-year tenure.
Liverpool’s display at Brighton moved beaten manager Chris Hughton to dub Klopp’s side “the best team we have played this season”, despite his men having also lost 2-0 to Pep Guardiola’s runaway league leaders Manchester City.
Although Klopp’s team struggled to beat some of the league’s lesser lights last season, he downplayed their performance on the south coast, saying it had simply been a case of “doing the job”. The German was more forthcoming in his praise of Brazilian forward Firmino, who finished off two superb counter-attacks to take his tally of goals for the season to 11 in all competitions. — AFP, Agencies
2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 1 1 5 2 2 1 1 1 3 Liverpool Sevilla Spartak Maribor Man City Shakhtar Napoli Feyenoord Besiktas Porto Leipzig Monaco Tottenham Real Dortmund APOEL