Liverpool stretched their unbeaten run against German teams to a total of 14 games with an emphatic 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League. The Reds were quiet in the first half, but were a different story altogether in the second half, inspired by the burly performance of Luis Díaz.
The first half saw very few clear-cut opportunities, with both teams largely even, just probing the opposition rearguard. Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo also saw their shots saved by Lukas Hradecky, while Jeremie Frimpong’s effort past Caoimhín Kelleher was ruled out for handball in the build-up.
It wasn’t until the 61st minute that Liverpool finally broke through. Díaz had given them the lead, lifting a perfectly-weighted pass from Curtis Jones over Hradecky. Then two minutes later, a powerful header from Gakpo saw him head home from Salah’s cross as the lead was doubled. Continuing to impress, Díaz took the return from Salah’s cross and finished with precision to notch his second. As the match entered the final minutes, he wrapped up his hat-trick off the loose ball from Darwin Núñez’s blocked shot.
The victory means Liverpool maintain their perfect Champions League record under Arne Slot, top of their group, while Leverkusen have not tasted wins in their last two European outings and struggle to keep pace.
