Liverpool thrash Red Star Belgrade to maintain air of invincibility at Anfield

Under Jurgen Klopp, Anfield has become one of European football’s killing grounds. This was Liverpool’s ninth home Champions League game under Klopp and they have scored 31 times.

When Sadio Mane finished off another slick move for Liverpool’s fourth, it meant Red Star Belgrade were just over par for what has become a ruggedly difficult course. Had Mane not seen his penalty brilliantly turned aside, they would, like Roma in last year’s semi-final, have conceded five. Had Mohamed Salah’s touch been a little finer, they might, like Spartak Moscow, have been thrashed 7-0 here.

Before too much triumphalism sets in, plenty might depend on how Napoli perform here in the final group game but theirs is a task no team in Europe would relish.

It took Liverpool 20 minutes, longer than some would have bet or guessed, to break through. At the start of the month, Red Star Belgrade had travelled to Paris St Germain, been destroyed 6-1 and, if that were not enough, one of their officials was accused of placing a 5m euro bet on his team to lose by five clear goals.

Everything stacked against Red Star

On Tuesday, their plane had made a tortured, wind-buffeted landing at John Lennon Airport. A Uefa punishment for a pitch invasion when they qualified for the Champions League meant none of their fans had been allowed to buy a ticket for the game. There was every reason for Red Star to crumble.

Red Star began better than that build-up might suggest but Liverpool were coming ever nearer. Roberto Firmino saw his shot blocked by his own defender, Trent Alexander-Arnold; one of several lovely balls from Xherdan Shaqiri found Salah on the edge of the area, clear of his marker. Only some conspicuous bravery from Milan Borjan in the Red Star goal prevented a goal

At left-back with the freedom to drive forward, Andy Robertson found himself up against Red Star Belgrade’s captain, Filip Stojkovic and gradually wore him down.

It was Robertson’s cut-back, delivered at pace, that provided Firmino with Liverpool’s opening goal but it was an opener made by Shaqiri who first won possession and then delivered the pass that allowed Robertson to open up the Red Star defence.

Motivated Shaqiri earns standing ovation

Shaqiri would have been motivated. As the child of Kosovan refugees, he has a thing about playing Serb teams. When, in Kaliningrad during the World Cup, he scored for his adoptive nation, Switzerland, against Serbia he sparked a diplomatic incident with his celebrations. Here, Shaqiri did not score another goal of his Kosovan dreams but earned a standing ovation when he was replaced by Adam Lallana.

When he controlled Robertson’s cut-back, Firmino still had work to do. There were three defenders in front of him but the Brazilian found a gap and beat Borjan, another refugee from the Yugoslav civil war whose family found their home in Canada. In 16 Champions League games for Liverpool, this was Firmino’s 19^th goal or assist.

These were the kinds of statistics that last season garlanded Mo Salah. He is not quite the footballer he was before the bitterness of the Champions League final and Egypt’s spluttering World Cup. A cross from Robertson may have just brushed his forelock as he ran it to meet it. Sadio Mane’s deft back-flick found him just offside. Last season Salah might have scored both. Perhaps.

Salah’s fifth goal of the season and his first in four days (his goal drought is hardly Saharan) came via a beautiful interplay from Klopp’s summer signings, Shaqiri and Fabinho, who delivered a faultless display in the centre of midfield. Suddenly, Salah found himself in front of goal. Borjan guessed the striker would go for the far corner and guessed wrong.

Marshmallow-soft penalty

Liverpool’s third was a marshmallow-soft penalty awarded by Daniel Siebert, who was officiating his first game of Champions League football. As they tussled for the ball, Stojkovic was foolish enough to raise his arm and Mane was cute enough to run on to it. Salah did the rest.

Had he not been substituted, Salah might have a hat-trick. Branko Jovicic was penalised for handball and Mane saw his penalty tipped on to the crossbar. A few Serb fans had come to Merseyside in defiance of the ban and were reportedly offering 500 euros for a pair of tickets. That save aside, it did not buy them much.