Liverpool 2-0 Bologna: Participant scores as Reds earn hard-fought win

Liverpool made it two wins from two within the Champions League as they claimed a hard-fought win over Bologna at Anfield.

The Reds seemed like they may cruised to victory when Alexis Mac Allister capped a dominant begin by scoring with 11 minutes gone.

Nonetheless, an obstinate Bologna made issues tough from there, with Mohamed Salah solely placing the seal on the win with a superb strike within the seventy fifth minute.

How the sport unfolded

Having began considerably slowly final day trip at Wolves, Liverpool seemed far sharper from the off right here, with a Ryan Gravenberch ball throughout the field virtually turned house by each Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz moments after kick-off.

And the Reds had their opener with simply 11 minutes gone, Mac Allister tucking away an unmissable Salah cross contained in the six-yard field.

The hosts virtually shortly doubled their benefit as Darwin Nunez noticed a objective dominated out for offside earlier than Szoboszlai rolled an effort previous the publish after slick build-up.

However the dominant nature of their begin appeared to result in complacency, permitting Bologna to get a foothold as the primary half progressed.

To that finish, they hit the woodwork twice in fast successions, Dan Nodye putting the bar after which the publish as Liverpool struggled to clear their traces.

A Trent Alexander-Arnold giveaway then resulted in Kacper Urbanski forcing Alisson Becker into a wise save earlier than Arne Slot’s staff started to reassert themselves simply earlier than half-time.

Sadly for Liverpool, the break appeared to additional energise Bologna, and so they went near levelling when Riccardo Orsolini hit Alisson with a shot from the left-hand aspect of the realm quickly after the restart.

However for all the problems the Reds had been having in surpassing a man-to-man press, they had been nonetheless giving up only a few high-quality alternatives and wanted solely one in all their very own to seal the end result.

In the long run, that got here to Salah, who used Alexander-Arnold’s overlapping run as a decoy to run to the centre of the field earlier than smashing a fantastic roller house.

From there, Liverpool had little hassle in seeing out a deserved win.

Liverpool participant scores (4-2-3-1)

GK: Alisson Becker – 7/10 – Made quite a few sensible saves and necessary claims to maintain Bologna at bay throughout their greatest moments.

RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold – 6/10 – Engaged in an pleasant battle with Dan Ndoye that most likely ended honours even.

CB: Ibrahima Konate – 7/10 – At all times there to win an aerial duel or get a block in and performed an enormous function in stopping Bologna turning their greatest moments into something really harmful.

CB: Virgil van Dijk – 7/10 – By no means seemed uncomfortable when Bologna dared to try to threaten on his aspect of the pitch.

LB: Andy Robertson – 5/10 – Did not all the time discover it straightforward defensively however was up and down the left flank all evening providing an choice.

CM: Ryan Gravenberch – 7/10 – Received his battles in midfield and produced some outrageous seems of strain as a part of a now-customary wonderful efficiency.

CM: Alexis Mac Allister – 7/10 – He might hardly miss the possibility for his objective however impressed in different methods, consistently scrapping for possession after which utilizing it calmly.

RM: Mohamed Salah – 8/10 – Offered a fantastic help for Mac Allister’s opener and was Liverpool’s only creator throughout the rest of the sport. Capped it off with a surprising objective.

AM: Dominik Szoboszlai – 7/10 – Has been closely criticised of late however was wonderful right here. Mixed his ordinary relentlessness off the ball with some beautiful touches on it.

LM: Luis Diaz – 6/10 – Not at his greatest when it comes to objective however dragged his staff up the pitch persistently along with his dribbling whereas working his socks off defensively.

ST: Darwin Nunez – 4/10 – Failed to offer Liverpool with the out ball they wanted when fighting Bologna’s man-to-man press and was extraordinarily wayward along with his passing.

SUB: Diogo Jota (61 for Nunez) – 7/10

SUB: Kostas Tsimikas (72 for Robertson) – 6/10

SUB: Cody Gakpo (72 for Diaz) – 6/10

SUB: Conor Bradley (85 for Alexander-Arnold)

SUB: Curtis Jones (85 for Szoboszlai)

Subs not used: Kelleher, Jaros, Endo, Gomez, Quansah, Nyoni, Morton.

Arne Slot – 7/10 – We’ll see if his lack of rotation right here hurts Liverpool once they go to Crystal Palace on Saturday, however you’ll be able to’t argue with the truth that Liverpool acquired the job finished.