By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool welcomed Leeds United to L4 on Wednesday evening knowing that a win would put them just three points behind Manchester City at the top of The Premier League.
Liverpool were on the front foot immediately as they made their intent clear early on, Sadio Mane ran at the Leeds defence, he picked out Luis Diaz, he waltzed passed a few admiring Leeds players, before getting his shot away which looked to be going in, but it was to be diverted wide as Mane inadvertently got in the way.
Leeds then broke forward a few times, before Liverpool created a problem of their own doing, when Alisson Becker dilly dallied on the ball, Daniel James stepped in, Alisson Becker looked to have brought down James whilst trying to make up for his error, thankfully it was deemed to be no foul by the officials.
From that point on in the game Liverpool went into over drive, as Andy Robertson won a penalty off a Stuart Dallas hand ball, Mohamed Salah managed to convert the kick into the bottom right hand corner of Illan Meslier’s net, to give The Reds the perfect start.
Then it was time for The Kop to rejoice as a long awaited moment was to happen when Joel Matip went on his customary mazy run, he picked out Salah , who then returned the favour to the Cameroon international, who went on to finish the ball like a striker, as Liverpool were in dreamland.
It was to get even better for The Mighty Reds as Salah played in Mane, with Luke Ayling desperately trying to get back, he was adjudged to have fouled Mane inside the area, which in turn had Michael Oliver pointing to the spot once again, and Salah was to make no mistake once again because this time he lifted the ball high over the diving Meslier into the top right hand corner of the net, as Liverpool were on easy street 35 minutes in, against a tired looking Leeds side.
There was even time for a few more glorious chances before the break, as Fabinho lashed a shot wide from close range, and right on the half time whistle Trent Alexander-Arnold played a precision pass through to Salah as he hunted a hat- trick, he chipped the ball over the on rushing Meslier, but Junior Firpo was on hand to acrobatically clear the shot off the line, as a simply stunning first half display from Liverpool came to a close.
A relatively quite start to the second half occurred, as Liverpool went about their business quietly and efficiently, Liverpool knew they could click into gear any time it suited them, and they duly obliged over the second part of the second half, Leeds just simply didn’t know what had hit them in a world wind attacking display.
First Mohamed Salah had a good strike at goal, with Curtis Jones setting him up, then this was swiftly followed by Curtis Jones testing Meslier, but the Leeds goalkeeper who hadn’t had the best of nights up to that point kept the shot out well.
Then a quite horrible mix up between the Leeds defence and Meslier, led to skipper Jordan Henderson nicking the ball, there was a one two between Salah and Henderson, before Henderson un selfishly set up Mane for a simple tap in.
And as if all of that wasn’t enough, in the final ten minutes of the game Liverpool really put the icing and the cherry on top of the cake, with substitute Divock Origi shot bouncing back off Meslier, only to find the feet of Mane who tapped the ball home, and with the final play of the night an Andy Robertson corner found Virgil van Dijk for the simplest of headers to cap off the most perfect of nights for The Reds.
Liverpool are Wembley bound on Sunday when they take on Chelsea, as they look to bring home the first of many pieces of silverware available to them this season.
By: Shane Brennan.
