Liverpool smashed Maribor 7-0 in last night’s Champions League encounter, recording the biggest away win by an English team in the history of the European Cup in the process, and it was a scintillating attacking display from Jurgen Klopp’s men. After huge criticism for failing to convert their chances in recent weeks, Liverpool’s forwards certainly answered these critiques as they found the net with ease, and it was Roberto Firmino who stood out in an utterly dominant display from himself, Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah.
The Brazilian was on red-hot form in Slovenia, and proved his knack for being in the right place at the right time as early as the fourth minute, when he received Salah’s pass and tapped home with confidence, netting his first goal in six games for the club in all competitions, importantly ending a rather worrying drought for the forward.
Firmino then showed his creative side with a delicate through ball for the oncoming Salah, a perfectly weighted pass which the Egyptian gratefully side-footed into the net. The Brazilian could have snatched a second shortly after, yet was quickly beaten to the ball by Salah, who tapped in from two yards out to put the away side 3-0 up. His second did arrive however shortly after half time as he glanced a header into the back of the net from a dangerous Coutinho free-kick, putting his side 5-0 up and bagging his sixth goal in all competitions this season.
A clean sheet was also hugely important for Klopp’s men, yet this performance was simply about the attacking threat posed by the Reds, and with Firmino spearheading the deadly front three, goals were easy to come by against a poor Maribor side. The striker linked up with his fellow forwards, while also carrying out his usual tireless efforts in chasing the ball back for his side.
In a simply outstanding display from Liverpool’s formidable front three, Firmino’s efforts were almost rivalled by Coutinho’s one goal and two assists, and Salah’s two goals and one assist. It was an outstanding victory for the Reds and, albeit against lesser competition, was an important stepping stone towards regaining some of that confidence lost in recent weeks in both the league and in European football.
The result leaves the Reds top of Group E on goal difference as both them and Spartak Moscow sit on five points from three games, with the Russian side demolishing Sevilla 5-1 at home last night. Liverpool now face bottom side Maribor once again in the return leg at Anfield in early November, before a trip to Sevilla later that month and a final test at home to Spartak Moscow in December.
