Ruthless, Liverpool punished Toulouse FC (5-1) who nevertheless did not deserve it. The Reds will travel to the Stadium in two weeks.
TFC will leave Liverpool with red cheeks, but without having to blush. Understand that the Violets suffered a fairly heavy setback at Anfield (5-1), without having been outclassed by the Reds.
Despite a very overhauled formation, with many executives on the bench (Alisson, Van Dijk, Szoboszlai, McAllister, Diaz, Salah, etc.), Jurgen Klopp’s men opened the scoring on their first opportunity, with a breakthrough from Diogo Jota ( 1-0, 9th). But after a 2-0 ball missed by Darwin Nunez (14th), the TFC equalized on a lightning counter, perfectly concluded for Thijs Dallinga (1-1, 16th). Perfect to offer a nice souvenir to the 2,500 Toulouse supporters who came to Anfield.
But Liverpool, without forcing, regained control of operations. The Violets left too much time for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who found Wataru Endo’s head following a corner (2-1, 30th). Then the Toulouse defense was again surprised in the process, with a billiard shot which benefited Nunez (3-1, 34th).
Nunez did it all
Toulouse could have reignited the suspense at the start of the second half marked by a huge miss from Gabriel Suazo (47th), and by a good period from the Violets, encouraged by their supporters who sang throughout the match. But Liverpool hurt TFC again, with a killer counter where Darwin Nunez did everything, like clearing Nicolaisen, dribbling Restes, then hitting the post, before Ryan Gravenberch’s goal (4-1, 65th).
A goal from Mohamed Salah delighted the Reds fans in added time (5-1, 90th+3) and gave a perhaps somewhat harsh dimension to the score. Liverpool soars in this group, where Toulouse remains in the game. Qualification for the play-offs will undoubtedly be played against Linz and Union Saint-Gilloise. But in the meantime, there will be a great display against LFC in two weeks at the Stadium.
