Liverpool continued their winning streak in the Europa League group stage by scoring 5 goals with hot attacking football.
Liverpool scored a goal and won 5-1 in the third match of Group E of the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League group stage against Toulouse held at Anfield in Liverpool, England on the 27th (Korean time).
Liverpool, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season and failed to advance to the Champions League, will participate in the Europa League along with Brighton & Hove Albion. It has been about eight years since Liverpool played in the Europa League since the 2015/16 season.
In the Europa League, which returned after eight years, Liverpool was placed in Group E along with LASK Linz (Austria), Union Saint-Gillois (Belgium), and Toulouse (France). While Liverpool is expected to easily advance to the round of 16 of the competition, they continued their winning streak in the group stage by defeating Toulouse at home with overwhelming firepower.
On this day, the home team Liverpool used a 4-3-3 structure. Quivin Kelleher guarded the goal, and Luke Chambers, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, and Trent Alexander-Arnold made up the back four. The midfield was comprised of Ryan Hrabenberg, Wataru Endo, and Curtis Jones, while the top three front line included Harvey Elliott, Darwin Núñez, and Diogo Jota.
The away team, Toulouse, faced the score 5-3-2. Guillaume Rest donned the goalkeeper’s gloves, while Gabriel Suasso, Moussa Diarra, Rasmus Nicolaisen, Logan Costa and Mikel Desler formed the back five. Christian Caceres Jr., Vincent Ciero, and Nicklas Schmidt were deployed in midfield, while Thirs Darlinga and Aaron Doenum were at the forefront aiming for the Liverpool goal.
Liverpool rotated their starting lineup considering that they had to play a midweek game and a Premier League game two days later. A large number of players, including goalkeepers, who had not been given the opportunity to start due to being pushed out by the starting players, were used to give key players a break.
With a large number of key players missing, including Mohamed Salah, Alexis McAlister, Dominik Szoboslaui, and Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool achieved two birds with one stone: victory and rest for the main players, thanks to outstanding performances from the reserve players.
It was Portuguese striker Jota who opened the scoring for Liverpool that day. In the 9th minute of the first half, defender Gomes blocked Toulouse’s long pass, and the second ball fell in front of Jota near the center line. At this time, Jota ran away from two Toulouse players with explosive speed, and after passing the defender right in front of him, he went into the penalty box and hit a right-footed shot that shook the net, scoring a great first goal.
Jota, who led the team to a 2-0 victory by scoring in the second match of the Europa League group stage against Saint-Gilleloise on the 6th, scored the first goal against Toulouse and scored in two consecutive Europa League games.
Toulouse equalized seven minutes after Liverpool took the lead. In the 16th minute of the first half, Dutch striker Darlinga, born in 2000, broke Liverpool’s offside trap with an exquisite move and succeeded in penetrating, and in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, he calmly cut into the net with a right-footed shot, making the score 1-1.
In the 31st minute of the first half, Liverpool regained the lead by scoring the go-ahead goal again. Liverpool’s second goal, making the score 2-1, was none other than Japanese midfielder Endo.
Liverpool chose a short pass in a corner kick situation, and right-back Alexander-Arnold crossed into the box. At this time, Endo jumped high and hit the cross with his head, turning it into a header. Endo’s header went straight into the goal, leading to a score.
As a result, Endo, who wore a Liverpool shirt during the summer transfer window, succeeded in scoring his Liverpool debut goal in his Europa League match. It was the first attack point scored in three games since assisting in the English Football League (EFL) Cup against Leicester City last September.
Liverpool, who took the lead again, scored an additional goal just three minutes after Endo scored the go-ahead goal. In the 34th minute of the first half, Jones fired a shot from inside the box, and the shot hit the Toulouse defender and Jones’ body in succession, deflected, and flowed toward Nunez. Uruguayan striker Núñez scored the team’s third goal with a powerful left-footed shot despite a lack of shooting angle.
Although they gave up one goal, Liverpool scored three goals in the first 45 minutes and finished the first half 3-1, moving one step closer to victory.
The second half began and Liverpool’s fourth goal was scored in the 20th minute of the second half. First, Nuñez, who scored in the first half, took advantage of his speed and outstanding individual skills to beat both the defender and the goalkeeper, creating a perfect scoring opportunity. Nuñez, who even beat the goalkeeper, then fired a right-footed shot toward the empty goal.
Everyone had no doubt that Nuñez would score multiple goals, but Nuñez’s shot hit the goal post and did not result in a score. With a perfect scoring opportunity gone, the ball hit the goalpost and headed towards Hrabenberg, who finished it off and scored the team’s fourth goal in place of Núñez.
As a result, Gravenberg started in all three group stage games after joining Liverpool and scored two goals and one assist, successfully increasing his attack points for three consecutive Europa League games.
Liverpool, who judged that Hrabenberg’s goal had secured the victory, used three substitution cards at once, removing Nuñez, Alexander-Arnold, and Chambers, and inserting Callum Scanlon, Cody Hakpo, and Jarel Quansa. Afterwards, in the 25th minute of the second half, Hraben Berg was brought in and Mohamed Salah was added, and in the 43rd minute of the second half, Jones was removed and prospect James McConnell, born in 2004, was brought in, allowing him to make his first-team debut.
Liverpool scored the fifth goal in extra time in the second half to seal the game. Facing a counterattack, Jota drove the ball close to the box and passed the ball to Hakpo, who was inside the box. At this time, in the process of turning back, Hakpo succeeded in quickly passing the ball to Salah next to him before the Toulouse defender could block it.
Salah, who caught the ball, calmly passed a defender and then hit the net with a right-footed shot aimed at the upper left corner of the goal, coming on as a substitute and succeeding in scoring. When Salah scored, Liverpool’s head coach, Jurgen Klopp, who was on the bench, smiled and clapped.카지노사이트
In the end, the game ended with a 5-1 landslide victory for Liverpool, taking home three points. As a result, Liverpool succeeded in winning all three group stage games and took the lead in Group E with 9 points, giving them the green light to advance to the round of 16.
Meanwhile, the third match between Saint-Gilleloise and LASK Linz held at the same time ended with Saint-Gilleloise winning 2-1, leaving Saint-Gilleloise with 4 points (1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss) over Liverpool. They were ranked 2nd, Toulouse was 3rd, and LASK Linz, who had lost all 3 games, was at the bottom of Group E.