Mohamed Salah settles Liverpool nerves in Champions League win over Bologna
Italian club Bologna caused Arne Slot’s side some problems at Anfield.
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Mohamed Salah’s timely late intervention made sure of a victorious return of the Champions League to Anfield as Liverpool beat Bologna 2-0.
Alexis Mac Allister’s first goal in Europe’s elite club competition gave the Reds an 11th-minute lead against the debutants, but the night was far from straightforward for the hosts.
However, for the ninth time in as many Champions League appearances, Salah scored to ease the anxiety with 15 minutes left.
It was the 49th Champions League goal in total for the 32-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season, and his sixth in four appearances against the Serie A side.
The goal secured a club record for new head coach Arne Slot, who became the first Reds boss to win eight of his first nine matches in charge.
Liverpool are one of only seven teams in the 36-team competition with a 100 per cent record but this was a hard-won victory as Bologna were not overawed by their first trip to Anfield and from the off committed five men to a high press.
That caused some problems for the hosts, although when striker Thijs Dallinga put the ball in the net he had strayed well offside long before he beat Alisson Becker.
Even after Liverpool took an early lead they found it difficult to play their way out from the back and had it not been for Alisson and the frame of the goal they would have been in more trouble.
But the goal itself was a prime example of the way Slot, who had urged his side to show the Champions League what it had missed after spending last season in the Europa League, wants to play.
From deep Mac Allister exchanged passes with Dominik Szoboszlai and played a clever pass into Darwin Nunez on the edge of the D, with the Uruguay international showing an awareness lacking for most of the hour he was on the pitch by laying off the ball to Salah out wide.
The Egypt international delivered an inswinging cross to the far post which was so deep Mac Allister was barely two yards out when he converted.
There followed a brief flurry when it seemed Liverpool would overwhelm their opponents.
Nunez beat goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski one-on-one but had gone early to reach Trent Alexander-Arnold’s through-ball, Szoboszlai swept wide a Salah cut-back when he when he should have at least tested the goalkeeper and Nunez shot weakly having done the difficult job of bringing down Ryan Gravenberch’s lofted pass.
From there Slot’s side lost their way as Szoboszlai’s misplaced header saw Dan Ndoye, Bologna’s main threat, have a shot deflect off Ibrahima Konate on to the crossbar and then hit the outside of a post after Liverpool’s defence made a mess of clearing a cross.
When Ndoye robbed Alexander-Arnold, Kacper Urbanski forced a save out of Alisson as Liverpool continued to struggle to get the ball out of the squeeze their opponents were putting on them.
Not much changed after the break as Alisson, on his 32nd birthday, saved from Riccardo Orsolini, with the host’s muted response seeing Salah curl a shot wide.
However, the Egyptian did not make the same mistake when he cut inside from Szoboszlai’s pass to fire across Skorupski.