Football writer Alex Keble analyses Tuesday's UEFA Champions League matches for Premier League clubs.
Salah matches Henry while defence sets club record
Liverpool 2-1 Lille
We are still in the first round of this season’s Champions League but leaders Liverpool have undeniably emerged as the front-runners after continuing their 100 per cent start at home to Lille.
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring in the first half with his 51st Champions League goal, moving joint-ninth with Thierry Henry in the all-time top scorers list in the competition.
It was also his 50th European goal for Liverpool.
All-time Champions League top scorers
| Player | Goals |
|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 141 |
| Lionel Messi | 129 |
| Robert Lewandowski | 103 |
| Karim Benzema | 90 |
| Raul | 71 |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy | 60 |
| Andriy Shevchenko | 59 |
| Thomas Muller | 55 |
| Mohamed Salah Thierry Henry |
51 |
One goal is often enough for Liverpool, given they have a defence that have now set a club record.
By the time Lille equalised in the 62nd minute, Liverpool had gone 599 minutes in Europe without conceding, surpassing their record of 572 minutes set in 2005/06.
But it isn’t just their calm and stoic defending that makes Liverpool favourites to win the competition.
Harvey Elliott’s winner from the bench meant Liverpool have had a goal scored by a substitute in four successive matches in all competitions for the first time since November and December 2007.
Meanwhile, Arne Slot became only the second manager or head coach in Champions League history to win each of his first seven match in charge of a club, and – as usual – the key to victory was defensive resolve.
An iron defence led by Virgil van Dijk, who equalled Phil Neal's record for the most victories by a Liverpool player in their first 50 European Cup/Champions League appearances, with 35, complimented by a deep bench that helps change up the attacking patterns when they need a goal: it’s the ideal combination for knockout football.
Liverpool will expect to go the distance.
Duran and Watkins experiment fails
AS Monaco 1-0 Aston Villa
All of a sudden Aston Villa’s Champions League campaign is in danger. Hovering in the top eight on goal difference alone, they need to beat Celtic at Villa Park to stand a chance of avoiding the playoffs.
Tyrone Mings’ loose pass led to the corner from which Monaco scored the winner, which followed his bizarre handball that had gifted Club Brugge victory in Mings’ only other Champions League performance, and yet Unai Emery blamed himself for the result.
“It was my mistake. I made a mistake when I decided to play with two strikers and we lost the positioning,” he said.
“Because until the moment, we were more or less controlling of the game."
He’s right, and with that the experiment of Jhon Duran and Ollie Watkins up front might well be over.
It has rarely worked before, but never has it looked quite as disjointed as it did last night.
After Duran came on in the 57th minute it felt like almost every Villa pass was misplaced. The new 4-2-2-2 shape seemed to confuse the players, creating a narrow and boxy formation that Monaco’s press easily disrupted.
Villa had just three shots in the final 33 minutes, while Emiliano Buendia, in his first start this season in any competition other than the EFL Cup, seemed uncomfortable in a wider role; he had looked sharp as a No 10.
Emery has long said it is his responsibility to find a way for Duran and Watkins to play together, but in a week when Villa have reportedly rebuffed West Ham United’s latest attempts to sign Duran, never has the prospect of a harmonious solution at Villa looked further away.
