Liverpool 2-0 Bologna: Arne Slot’s Liverpool earn another hard-fought victory
Liverpool 2-0 Bologna: Arne Slot’s Liverpool earn another hard-fought victory. Liverpool made it two wins from their two Champions League outings so far this season on Wednesday evening, as they claimed another hard-fought win over Bologna at Anfield.
The Reds looked like they might cruised to victory when Alexis Mac Allister capped a dominant start by scoring the opener just 11 minutes into the game.
However, an obstinate Bologna made things difficult from there, with Mohamed Salah only putting the seal on the win with a brilliant strike in the 75th minute.
How the game unfolded;
Having started somewhat slowly last time out at Wolverhampton, Liverpool looked far sharper from the off here, with a Ryan Gravenberch ball across the box almost turned home by both Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz moments after kick-off.
And the Reds had their opener with just 11 minutes gone, Mac Allister tucking away an unmissable Salah cross inside the six-yard box.
The hosts almost quickly doubled their advantage as Darwin Nunez saw a goal ruled out for offside before Szoboszlai rolled an effort past the post after a slick build-up.
But the dominant nature of their start appeared to lead to complacency, allowing Bologna to get a foothold as the first half progressed.
To that end, they hit the woodwork twice in quick successions, Dan Nodye striking the bar and then the post as Liverpool struggled to clear their lines.
A Trent Alexander-Arnold giveaway then resulted in Kacper Urbanski forcing Alisson Becker into a smart save, before Arne Slot‘s team began to reassert themselves just before half-time.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, the break seemed to further energise Bologna, and they went close to levelling when Riccardo Orsolini hit Alisson with a shot from the left-hand side of the area soon after the restart.
But for all the issues the Reds were having in surpassing a man-to-man press, they were still giving up very few high-quality opportunities and needed only one of their own to seal the result.
In the end, that came to Salah, who used Alexander-Arnold’s overlapping run as a decoy to run to the centre of the box before smashing a beautiful curler home.
From there, Liverpool had little trouble in seeing out a deserved win.
