One of the high-profile match-ups in the Champions League on Tuesday night saw Premier League leaders Liverpool take on the 2023-24 Bundesliga Champions, Bayer Leverkusen. The hosts Liverpool won 4-0 on the day, comprehensively beating the German side and claiming the top spot in the Champions League table.
Bayer Leverkusen was despondent, and ultimately disappointing on the day. Their manager, Xabi Alonso, formerly played for Liverpool and famously won the UEFA Champions League with them in 2005. The Anfield crowd warmly welcomed back the Spanish midfielder, giving him a round of applause which he gracefully returned.
The first half was an uneventful affair, with neither team making any major attempts on goal. In the second half, Liverpool (mainly Diaz) exploded. A sublime pass from midfielder Curtis Jones beat the last Leverkusen defender, sending Diaz 1v1 with the goalkeeper and scooped a lovely ball over his head, scoring Liverpool’s first goal. Cody Gakpo made it 2-0 soon after, following a video assistant referee (VAR) check after the goal was initially ruled offside. Diaz completed his hat trick at the end of the game, after a deflected Darwin Nunez shot fortunately fell into his path, and he easily slotted past the Leverkusen goalkeeper. Arne Slot sang Diaz’s praises in his post-match press conference, saying:
“Not only the people in Colombia like and love Lucho, the fans of Liverpool love him a lot as well. I heard many times the fans singing his song. And the manager likes him a lot as well — I don’t love him but I like him a lot!”
The hat-trick hero himself said that life at Liverpool under the new boss is going well:
“Things have gone so well with the new manager, it wasn’t easy for him to come in and fill [former manager] Klopp’s shoes. Hopefully, we’ll have something to show for it at the end of the season.
“We have top-quality players all over the pitch and I really enjoyed playing in that position today. I’m just happy to be on the pitch.”
Liverpool were fantastic, but it was youngsters Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch who shined in midfield. Particularly, the latter has experienced a massive renaissance under new manager and compatriot Arne Slot, who now utilizes him in a deep-lying playmaker role and has transformed him into one of the best performers for the club so far this season. He ranked first in progressive passes and his driving forward runs from midfield caused havoc against Leverkusen.
It was also a major testament to Liverpool’s defensive ability that they kept one of the most dynamic attacking sides in Europe quiet. Alonso’s Leverkusen has terrorized teams in Europe for the past two years, reaching the Europa League final last season which they ultimately lost. Liverpool’s plan to dictate the space and limit Leverkusen to low-quality chances worked perfectly. The side made it difficult for them to break their press.
Liverpool now sits first in both the Champions League and Premier League tables. Providing their squad remains healthy, it’s easy to envision them being in the conversation for title winners in both competitions this season.
