Arne Slot speaks

I don’t know if it was that much to do with intensity [in the second half] but we took more risk and weren’t afraid to play one v one. They overloaded the midfield and had a striker who played from the left wing so we adjusted a bit and half-time to play one v one all over. That’s why we got the initiative, I think, apart from being a bit better on the ball than we were in the first half.

They had a lot of possession in the first half because they played without a No9 but in my opinion they weren’t a goal threat at all. But you always prefer to have the ball more.

[You put Luis Diaz up front and he scored a hat-trick – that must feel good] Yeah yeah, the last goal was from the left! We thought maybe a strong striker and a target man wouldn’t fit as well as somebody who is very fast over the first few metres. But it needed an incredible pass from Curtis Jones and then Lucho finished it off brilliantly.

[Could you have imagined it going this well in the first three months?] No. You never look that far ahead, you only look at the next opponent. You’re always a bit frightened of them: ‘Oooh they have this player, that player, how are we gonna handle that? What is the gameplan?’ It’s always one game at a time.

[Slot is asked a question about the players whose contracts are up in the summer, and ignores it] Virgil was criticised in the Dutch press after the Euros for not wanting to step into midfield. Now. I would advise all those people to look at the game today because he was constantly on the front foot. He had a very good game, Mo had … three assists did he? Two or three? And Trent, yeah, like he usually does. It’s good to have them in a good place and they’re really important for Liverpool.

That’s all for tonight. I’ll leave you with Andy Hunter’s match report – goodnight.

“Madrid are now 17th in the Champions League table & will go lower after tomorrow’s games,” says Colin Stevens. “They’ll be in serious qualifying trouble if they lose at Anfield in their next game. Here’s hoping.”

They’ll be fine. They could finish 37th and they’d still probably win the thing.

(Mind you they have some tough games, not just Liverpool: Atalanta A, Salzburg H, Brest A.)

Cody Gakpo’s reaction

Good result against a very good team. I don’t know if it’s our best result this season but it’s a good one.

They’re a very tough opponent but we kept going, kept trying, and then the goal came. The first goal won us the game. Fantastic pass by Curt and an amazing finish by Lucho. That opened up the game.

In other news, thousands of Manchester United fans have just died of hope.

A year ago today, Luis Diaz scored a late equaliser at Luton, not knowing if his father would be released by kidnappers in Colombia. A weird coincidence, but at least his memories of 5 November 2024 will be nothing but joyful.

Robertson won the ball on the edge of the D and Liverpool were away. In the blink of an eye they had a four on two, Nunez on the ball. He went for goal himself, Hincapie blocked the shot and Diaz gleefully accepted the rebound from eight yards.

90+1 min Five minutes of added time.

90 min Robertson screws over from 10 yards. Gravenberch’s cross was slightly behind him.

Leverkusen have gone. They’ve been well and truly Anfielded.

89 min Salah has a close-range shot blocked by Hincapie. Leverkusen look ready for their beds, they’ve been run ragged in the last half hour.

89 min “I know that Arne Slot has said that he’s inherited a good squad with some good players, but one tweak he has made this season is to switch more to a 4-2-3-1 from a 4-1-2-3, pushing a central midfielder further forward,” says Andy Flintoff. “There were very few times that Klopp would pick effectively four forwards, but right now he’s got Gakpo, Salah, Szoboszlai and Diaz as a front four.”

I’d argue it’s more of a 4-2-1-3 than 4-2-3-1, but we never list it as such as it just looks a bit weird.

88 min: Liverpool substitution Jarell Quansah comes on for Ibrahima Konate.

87 min The corner is headed away to Frimpong, who swishes over from 25 yards. Decent effort but Kelleher had it covered.

87 min Suddenly Kelleher’s the busiest man in Anfield. He gets down to his left and stretches a long way to keep out Andrich’s low shot from the edge of the D.

85 min Kelleher, who hasn’t had much to do tonight, keeps his sheet clean with a fine double save. He got down really smartly to his right to beat away Schick’s shot, then bounced to his feet to kick away the follow-up shot.

84 min Liverpool break five on four but Darwin Nunez’s pass is intercepted.

The first two goals were brilliant; this one was a bit too easy. Salah curled a routine cross to the far post, where Diaz ignored a challenge from Hofmann, who ended up on his arse, and rattled the ball past Hradecky from six yards. At first I thought Diaz might have fouled Hofmann but he was just too strong.

81 min: Double substitution for Leverkusen Patrick Schick, Mr Injury Time himself, and Nathan Tella come for Victor Boniface and Alex Grimaldo.

81 min Though Leverkusen certainly haven’t thrown the towel in, there’s nothing happening that would suggest comeback. I suppose that can happen at Anfield – you’re playing well, the plan is working, and before you know it you’re 2-0 down.

80 min: Triple substitution for Liverpool Andy Robertson, Darwin Nunez and Conor Bradley replace Cody Gakpo, Kostas Tsimikas and Trent Alexander-Arnolld.

78 min “One of the presenters on TalkSport made the point that Slot appears to be completely devoid of ego,” says Phil Sawyer. “He’s come in and resisted the urge to stamp his authority and instead is just building on what’s there. I’m old enough to remember Paisley taking over from the firebrand that was Shankly. There is something of the quiet man about Slot. Also, he does appear to have a happy facility for watching a first half and making the necessary changes for the second.”

He’s a male Dutch football manager, so I’ll be astonished if there isn’t an ego bubbling underneath. But he manages it brilliantly and his PR has been immaculate. Is there anything to dislike about him so far?

76 min Tapsoba finds himself in the Liverpool area and has a decent shot well blocked by Van Dijk.

76 min It’s for too early the as-it-stands Champions League table. So here it is.

74 min Salah’s superb pass is only slightly miscontrolled by Szobozslai, which allows Tah to come across. The bounce made it awkward to take on the run, but with a better touch he’d have had a clear shot.

73 min: Double substitution for Leverkusen Robert Andrich and Jonas Hofmann comes on for Aleix Garcia and Exequiel Palacios.

73 min: Liverpool substitution Dominik Szoboszlai for the excellent Curtis Jones.

72 min Liverpool are flying now. Mac Allister’s low shot from 15 yards is pushed away really well by the unsighted Hradecky, low to his left. The ball runs loose to Alexander-Arnold, whose heatseeker just clears the bar.

71 min “Well those couple of minutes were worth the reset!” says Phil Sawyer.

70 min When Leverkusen last lost an away game, in May 2023, it was May bloody 2023.

68 min: Boniface misses a great chance! Leverkusen’s best opportunity of the game is spurned by Boniface. Grimaldo took a short corner on the right and curled a dangerous cross into the middle, where Boniface got the wrong side of Gravenberch but headed over from eight yards.

67 min Before he went out for the second half Xabi Alonso tapped the ‘This Is Anfield’ sign in the tunnel. In the last 10 minutes his players have received an unwelcome insight into the unique challenges of playing on this ground.

66 min Jones has a shot blocked after collecting a poor defensive header.

65 min So when do we start taking Liverpool seriously as contenders to win absolutely everything?

Salah cut inside from the right, gave the ball to Diaz and moved down the line for the return. When it came he sidefooted a terrific first-time cross with his right foot, and Gakpo flew like Mick Harford to head emphatically into the net at the far post.

63 min: Gakpo has a goal disallowed! It was another terrific goal, finished off with a flying far-post header by Gakpo. I think this might be given – he looks onside to me.

63 min As the ever excellent Jon Champion points out on Amazon Prime Video, the two players Arne Slot brought into the side tonight were Jones and Diaz.

Oh what a lovely goal. Curtis Jones, who is in the form of his life, spots Diaz’s run and slides a fantastic angled pass behind Tah to put him through on goal. Diaz, showing indecent calm, scoops the ball slowly over Hradecky into the net.

60 min Hradecky, the Leverkusen keeper, is booked for timewasting.

59 min Alexander-Arnold blasts high and wide from 25 yards, but this is a really good spell for Liverpool and the crowd are starting to stir.

58 min: Great chance for Salah! Liverpool have had a lot of the ball in the last few minutes, though Leverkusen’s defensive 4-4-2 shape is solid. Gravenberch opens them up with a thrusting run and pass across to Salah in space on the right side of the area. Trouble is, Salah has to take with his right foot and slices well wide of the near post. Even with his right foot, that was a very good chance.

55 min Diaz fires the ball into Salah on the edge of the area. He cushions a short pass to Jones, a really nice touch, but there are so many defenders around that Jones can’t find a decent angle for a shot. Eventually he sweeps over from the edge of the area.

52 min The second half so far has been the same as the first – intriguing but not really threatening to push the neutral’s pulse into the cardio zone.

49 min A really clever short pass from Alexander-Arnold threatens to release Salah on the right, only for Hincapie (I think) to make a well-timed challenge.

48 min Leverkusen win an early corner on the right. Grimaldo hits a big inswinger, overhits it in fact as it curls behind for a goalkick.

BREAKING NEWS: MANCHESTER UNITED HAVE WON THE 2025-26 PREMIER LEAGUE, AND THE ONE AFTER THAT TOO

46 min Peep peep! Liverpool get the second half going.

“I reset my telly box at half time,” writes Phil Sawyer, which is often a euphemism for putting a size 12 boot through that smug, flickering screen. “The Amazon app now appears to be streaming okay. As usual, it appears technological shenanigans at Sawyer Towers may have been at play. Nice to see I’m ill-equipped as ever to cope with the modern world. Haven’t lost my touch in the time I’ve been away from the MBM *blows smoke from fingers*.”

Half-time reading

Go and catch up on the first halves elsewhere. Spot test at 9pm BST.

“This game is on a knife edge, and could go either way,” says Simon McMahon. “Which is exciting, though it’s reassuring to know that the future of the world doesn’t depend on the outcome.”

How many times, Simon: it’s a prestigious honour to win Masterchef but world peace doesn’t depend on it!

45+2 min: Chance for Gakpo! Jones sweeps a fine long pass out to Gakpo, in all sorts of space on the left. He moves into the area, shifts the ball away from the covering Tapsoba and forces a left-foot shot that hits the chest of Hradecky. The angle was a bit tight for Gakpo.

43 min: Disallowed goal for Leverkusen! Frimpong charges through and beats Kelleher emphatically, only for the flag to go up the moment he starts celebrating. It wasn’t offside but a clear handball from Frimpong before he surged away from Tsimikas.

43 min A good break from Liverpool. Eventually Salah cuts inside from the right and hits a low drive from a tight angle that is saved at the second attempt by Hradecky.

41 min Plenty of goals flying in elsewhere, including confirmation of Ruben Amorim’s genius. Yara El-Shaboury has the latest.

40 min This game is, as the commentator Jon Champion says on Amazon, a bit of arm-wrestle. It’s slightly surprising to hear that Leverkusen have had 58 per cent of the possession; it feels more 48-52.

37 min The aforementioned Grimaldo moves infield from left-back to receive a square pass 25 yards from goal. He gets the ball out of his feet but then shoots well over the bar.

37 min “Grimaldo,” begins Niall Mullen, “sounds more like a single member of the Monaco royal family.”

36 min Tsimikas’s corner is easily claimed by Hradecky.

36 min Alexander-Arnold flips a one-step free-kick that hits the top of the wall and goes behind for a corner.

35 min “Tell Phil Sawyer that Paramount+ is working just fine here in the States,” says Joe Pearson. “Thanks for asking!”

34 min Xhaka legs up Diaz 22 yards from goal, slightly to the right of centre. It’s a perfect position for Trent™.

32 min Alonso jumps around on the touchline, waving his team up the field every time Liverpool play the ball backwards. It’s an interesting tactical battle.

30 min Xabi Alonso will surely be happy with the first half hour. Lukas Hradecky hasn’t had a difficult save to make and they are starting to cause Liverpool problems at the other end.

27 min “Frimpong and Grimaldo are such Tolkien-sounding names,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Elsewhere Real Madrid has fallen behind once again. Does this mean the new format is a success and someone other than Real is going to win this year at last?”

No. And not only because Vinicius has just equalised.

27 min Salah’s outside-of-the-boot cross is headed away to the edge of the area, where Mac Allister mistimes an awkward left-foot volley. It’s booted away by a defender.

26 min Grimaldo is booked for pulling back Salah.

24 min “Is your other reader Are any of your other readers finding that the Amazon TV App is crashing every few minutes?” wonders Phil Sawyer. “I mean, in some ways the feed is performing the duty of the Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses and protecting me from watching anything alarming. At the same time, it would be nice to at least experience the anxiety first hand and actually watch the match.”

22 min Frimpong curls an early low pass towards Boniface near the penalty spot. Kelleher is in no man’s land but Alexander-Arnold forces him away from goal and Boniface shoots wide from an impossible angle. Boniface then slides off the field and into one of the advertising boards. He’s still down and receiving treatment as the game continues.

21 min Wirtz, just outside the area, flickes a superb little pass through to Frimpong. He gets the wrong side of Van Dijk, then goes over just as he’s about to shoot. The referee waves him up and VAR isn’t interested. I’d like to see that again. There weren’t many complaints so maybe Frimpong just lost his balance.

20 min Palacios curls a dangerous long pass to Boniface, who can’t take it with him on the run. Leverkusen have settled after a slow start, and moments later a fine move ends with Xhaka’s low cross being cut out by Konate.

18 min It’s starting to open up. Xhaka slaps a shot from 25 yards that hits Van Dijk on the side of the head and knocks him off his feet. He’s fine.

17 min Diaz whips an early shot from the edge of the area that is blocked by Tah on the six-yard line. Diaz looks really sharp playing as a No9.

16 min Tapsoba has a not dissimilar effort at the other end: a daisy-cutter from 25 yards, easily held by Kelleher.

14 min A nice move from Liverpool. Diaz pulls left, then surges infield and curls a good pass to Salah on the far side of the area. He touches it back to the onrushing Jones, whose shot from 20 yards is well struck but straight at Hradecky.

12 min Leverkusen have come to play and are pressing high, but so far they haven’t been great in possession. The two wing-backs haven’t really got on the ball in the Liverpool half.

11 min “Like a lot of people around the world, I’m feeling stressed today,” writes Kári Tulinius. “So thank heavens for football, a soothing two-hour mindwipe of the real world. Honestly, I’d take any level of football right now, but top-level continental clashes are very welcome.”

10 min Liverpool look sharp: in Brighton terms much more second half than first.

9 min I can’t work out whether Leverkusen are playing 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-1-1. You’re welcome! Aleix Garcia is doing a Ray Parlour and playing about three different positions.

8 min There’s been a goal in Lisbon #AmorimOut.

7 min Diaz, playing centrally, runs at the Leverkusen defence and slips an angled through pass to Gakpo. His left-foot shot on the run is slightly tame and Tapsoba makes an important sliding block.

5 min Gakpo, confident and in-form, whips a fierce shot from 25 yards that is well blocked by a sliding Leverkusen player, possibly Palacios.

4 min “Alonso is comfortably amongst my favourite ever players, and probably the footballer I most wanted to be, even as a ‘grown-up’,” writes Matt Dony, ruthlessly airbrushing the Istvan Kozma phase from his memory bank. “The technique, the elegance, the intelligence. He was extraordinary. That fateful day in January this year, my first thought was, ‘Someone had better be on the phone to Leverkusen!’ But I’m happy with how things have worked out. It’s obviously the earliest of days, but Slot has duck-to-watered it so far, and Alonso can gain some more managerial experience before inevitably returning to Anfield. Should be a good game tonight. I hope Alonso is disappointed, but I can’t convey how happy I am to see him.”

Talking of Slot duck-to-watering it, one thing I really like is how often he basically implies he’s sitting in a self-driving car. Clearly he inherited an – excuse me – damn fine football team, but I’m not sure many managers would shine quite so much light on the past. It shows he’s very comfortable in his own skin, and it takes one to know one!

3 min Frimpong’s low cross is dragged well wide from the edge of the area by Boniface. Both sides have made a really fast start.

1 min Peep peep! Leverkusen, in white, kick off from left to right as we watch.

A reminder of the teams

Liverpool (4-3-3) Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Jones, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz.
Substitutes: Jaros, Davies, Gomez, Endo, Szoboszlai, Nunez, Robertson, Quansah, Morton, Bradley.

Bayer Leverkusen (possible 3-5-1-1) Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Palacios, Garcia, Xhaka, Grimaldo; Wirtz; Boniface.
Substitutes: Kovar, Lomb, Hofmann, Andrich, Arthur, Schick, Tella, Onyeka.

Referee Danny Makkelie (Holland)

“Hello from California!” weeps Peter Oh. “Blame it on election day jitters, but I have no idea how this match will turn out. It’s a fascinating technical area matchup, with a Slot machine on one side and a Liverkusen legend on the other.”

Plenty of other games tonight, including Celtic v Leipzig and Ruben Amorim v Pep Guardiola. You can follow those matches with Yara El-Shaboury.

Xabi Alonso talks to Amazon Prime Video (whose panel includes his old dance partner Frank Lampard)

It feels great to be back. It can’t get much better than a Champions League game at Anfield. The new stand looks fantastic and we’re really looking forward to the game.

[Lampard: Have you told your players about the Anfield atmosphere?] Not too much, not too much. We’re focussing more on the opponent. For sure there is a moment when Anfield gets up that you need to have a plan, so let’s see.

It’s mainly about the football and playing against Liverpool, who are probably the best team in Europe at the moment. For us, it’s a great game, probably our toughest [in the league stage].

We need to play with personality, courage and ideas. If we do that, it’s enough to get something from Anfield.

Forty is the new thirty

Xabi Alonso on his return to Anfield

Arne Slot talks to Amazon Prime Video

One of the strengths that this team has had for years is that they know they can fight back, and we had to do that against Brighton because the first half was quite poor from our side and very good from Brighton. I don’t think there was a bit more intensity in the second half, there was a lot more!

[On his team selection tonight] We only have four attackers available at the moment and there a lot of games to be played. I chose not to play Darwin because he has played a lot recently and today is a good game to play Lucho.

It looks like they may have changed their system to play with three midfielders. We have to be ready for both scenarios.

[Is it a special night?] I’m looking forward to every home game, especially in Europe, and this is one of them. The next one [Real Madrid] is pretty big as well.

“Is it too iconoclastic to say that Alonso wasn’t the same player at Liverpool after Lampard broke his ankle?” says Niall Mullen. “Don’t get me wrong, he was better than Christian Poulsen but, in my worthless opinion, he became a much better player after leaving Anfield (possibly because of the slower pace of La Liga). Then again I was there (and utterly bamboozled) when he did this so what do I know?”

Wasn’t the leg break halfway through his first season? He achieved a fair bit after that, including that marvellous assist (very Cole Palmer) and at least 48 goals from inside his own half. But you’d know better than me as a Liverpool fan.