The Paul Gorst verdict as Liverpool storm into the last-16 of the Champions League with a 6-0 success over Qarabag at Anfield that lifted the pressure on Arne Slot
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: : (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, gestures a thumbs-up towards the crowd following the team's victory in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD8 match between Liverpool FC and Qarabag FK at Anfield on January 28, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Arne Slot gives thumbs-up toward the crowd following his Liverpool's team Champions League demolition job on Qarabag (Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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In a season where it's been almost impossible to draw definitive conclusions, it can at least be said that the European game has been much kinder to Arne Slot and his Liverpool players than the Premier League.
Into the last 16 of the Champions League with plenty to spare, thanks to the biggest victory of the head coach's tenure to date, the Reds look an entirely different proposition to the one under siege from low blocks, long throws and overt physicality on the domestic scene. Fortunately, all of that has been in shorter supply on the continent and it has been much easier for the champions of England to navigate as a result.
Slot concluded last year that a top-spot in this new-look Champions League finish yielded no tangible benefit as they were 'rewarded' for finishing first in the maiden campaign of the revamped and more lucrative tournament by drawing a rampant Paris Saint-Germain side who went on to win the whole thing.
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But the 4-1 nadir to PSV in November aside, a result as bad as anything this season, it's been a good few months for Liverpool when it comes to solely assessing their continental conquests. A 1-0 loss away to Galatasaray, via a disputed penalty in late September, can happen to even the most in-form of teams, so the verdict of the group phase has to go down as a positive one.
Qualification secured with a 6-0 thumping of Qarabag here and, strange as it might sound given the paucity of what has been served up in the Premier League, very few of the other runners and riders look like stronger prospects to go all the way to the Budapest final, judging solely off the last eight match-days.
But in a season where it has probably felt to Slot that anything that can go wrong will, it will have been no shock to see calamity strike his defence once more with the injury to Jeremie Frimpong inside the first five minutes.
The Netherlands international pulled up here with what appeared to be a hamstring issue, which would be his third injury of its kind since he moved from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer.
Aside from the fact that the diminutive Dutchman has been one of the standout performers of recent weeks, it's troubling that a player whose entire game is based around speed and movement has now succumbed to yet another muscle injury such as this. Aside from that, it was the straightforward sort of evening Slot has been craving.
It won't be the most memorable of his headed goals at the Anfield Road end this campaign, after his winner over Real Madrid in similar circumstances, but Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring when he nodded in from close range after a Dominik Szoboszlai corner had reached him at the back post. Qarabag thought they had cleared their lines but the vibration on referee Ivan Kruzliak's watch confirmed it was a goal.
The second arrived shortly after when Hugo Ekitike nudged it into the path of Florian Wirtz, who had all the time in the world to size up the shot and rifle low into the corner for his fifth goal in barely a month.
Slot argued recently that the general results and performances have obstructed the ability to see how the new arrivals are adapting and that is true of Wirtz, who has largely been excellent these past two months. This, of course, was limited opposition but the finish was more evidence of him settling at Anfield. He will be a huge player for this club in the knockout stages.
And a word for Ekitike, someone who is building an exciting partnership with Wirtz. The pair have now registered assists for one another five times across all competitions, which is the most by a duo that young since Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen used to dovetail to devastating effect 23 years ago.
Mohamed Salah scored his first goal for nearly three months when he curled home a beauty after Szoboszlai had rolled a free-kick into his path and it was a fitting way to mark his record-equalling 80th appearance in this competition. The tapping of the badge in front of the Kop in celebration did not go unnoticed either.
It was Ekitike who perhaps deserved the goal of evening accolade, however, when he controlled a punt clear from Virgil van Dijk to take it past Bahul Mustafazade near the halfway line before surging beyond Kevin Medina and firing into the net.
Mac Allister added his second and Liverpool's fifth shortly after, rounding the goalkeeper, before substitute Federico Chiesa tucked home in stoppage time.
So how to analyse the group stage for the Reds? Victories over Real and Atletico Madrid will sit alongside impressive away wins and clean sheets at Inter and Marseille and while the rough-and-tumble nature of the Premier League is proving to be too difficult at times, the intricacies of the European version clearly suit this squad more.
And while there will certainly be no bombastic claims about what they are able to achieve simply because how hard it has generally been, it would be no surprise if there was a gentle, almost unspoken belief behind the scenes that they could go much further than last year, when they ran into PSG and were beaten on penalties in the last 16.
That defeat has rankled with Slot for some time, it still does in fact, and anyone who has taken even a passing interest in his press conferences since will be able to attest to that. So while it remains a dog-fight just for the privilege of playing in this tournament next season, Liverpool's passage into the knockout stages should be cause for some cautious, quiet optimism.
It might even be that the Champions League proves to Slot's salvation at the end of the season when it is all said and done.