German media hail two Liverpool stars, one 'overwhelmed' Leipzig's £22m man
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As Darwin Nunez fired Liverpool past RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday night, it was a performance which felt like the entire Arne Slot era in a nutshell.
Liverpool rode their luck, needed a few stand-out saves from Caoimhin Kelleher, but made their chance count when it come at the other end.
The Anfield giants may have a remarkable 11 wins from 12 games under Jurgen Klopp’s successor – Arne Slot is clearly no David Moyes or post-Wenger Unai Emery – though it would not be unfair to suggest that Liverpool’s results have been a lot better than some of their performances.
Lois Openda had a stunning finish ruled out for offside mere seconds before Darwin Nunez tapped in a Mo Salah header for the game’s only goal at the Red Bull Arena.
In for the injured Alisson, Liverpool’s Kelleher enhanced his reputation as arguably the best back-up goalkeeper in the game. The Irishman was at full stretch to keep out the likes of Benjamin Sesko, Antonio Nusa, Xavi Simons and Benjamin Henrichs, denying the latter brilliantly before Openda converted from an offside position once again.
Caoimhin Kelleher and Cody Gakpo hailed as Liverpool beat RB Leipzig
“Kelleher cannot be overcome,” German publication MDR wrote at full-time, albeit while highlighting the role Leipzig’s own Peter Gulacsi also played in keeping the scoreline down.
“After the goal, Liverpool dominated. [They] came very close to making it 2-0 several times but were thwarted by Leipzig’s best goalkeeper, Gulacsi.
“RB then increased the pressure, but the Irish Liverpool keeper Kelleher is no flycatcher either, showing strong saves from shots from Sesko, Nusa and Xavi.”
The Leipzig-specialist website RB Live opted to highlight the role played not by Kelleher but by one of Liverpool’s outfield players on a night in which Slot shuffled his back and was rewarded by eye-catching displays from matchwinner Nunez and left-back Kostas Tsimikas.
Cody Gakpo was explosive and incisive cutting in from the left.
He very nearly set up Nunez for a second with a gorgeous trivela cross and gave Lutsharel Geertruida, Leipzig’s new £22 million right-back, the runaround.
“Not a convincing performance from the new signing,” RB Live write, critical of a player who captained Slot’s Feyenoord at times last season. “[Geertruida] was overwhelmed by the nimble Gakpo.”
Arne Slot takes positives and negatives from Champions League triumph
Slot was keen to highlight the role Gakpo played in an impressive away win during his post-match press conference, the Dutchman justifying his inclusion ahead of Luis Diaz.
His frustration, however, was that Liverpool needed Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate to stand tall at the end having failed to kill off their opponents.
“I'm always happy when we score a goal and I'm not that much into it who scores it,” Slot smiles. “It is always good to see all of our players scoring goals. And I think, in the lead-up to the goal, Cody and Mo were just as important in the goal as Darwin was.
“What I liked from Darwin was that he was also strong, comfortable on the ball, kept the ball a lot, fighting if he had to defend. He made it a really difficult game for the two centre-backs of Leipzig. And then for him scoring, I think that is always nice for a striker to be on the scoresheet.
“Many, many, many times we played through their press, opened up their midfield and went for an attack. That led to the first goal, that led to a few chances. More than a few.
“And then, in the end it's a pity, that you still need your two centre-backs to play such a big game and your goalkeeper to make two such important saves because a game like this should have been ours after 60, 70 minutes and it wasn't.
“That's why the last 20 were still difficult for us.”
