With a superb clincher from Mo Salah, ARNE SLOT created history.
The manager who succeeded Jurgen Klopp became the first to lead Liverpool to eight victories in his first nine games in charge.
Although the Dutchman had a great start to the game and his team ended the match on a high note because of Salah’s 75th-minute spectacular, he also had to deal with a lot of frightening situations.
Mo Salah went to 49 Champions League goals with a screamer
Because the Reds went into reverse gear after a magnificent, pulsing start, which for a considerable amount of time threatened red faces.
In the lead-up, Slot had expressed concern and told his players that “mediocrity was not acceptable.”
His claim that the Serie A club was more dangerous than their 13th-place ranking in the league appeared to be little more than scare tactics, especially after they were running amok through Bologna in the opening twenty-five minutes.
The 11th-minute goal by Alexis MacAllister summed up Liverpool’s early dominance and attacking fluency.
It’s true that Thijs Dallinga had just missed the home goal, but he was well offside when he took the shot.
It was the genuine stuff, the Argentinean’s first-ever Champions League goal.
It resulted from a fluid team play that Salah finished off with a lovely chip that only required a half-yard touch into the net.
Darwin Nunez, who replaced Diogo Jota on the bench because of a minor foot injury, should have increased the lead by two, but Slot isn’t the best football player, as you can already tell.
His shot would have been valid if he had arced his run onto Mac Allister’s through-ball. Not surprisingly, though, he ran completely off-side.
For Slot’s men, the going got too easy, and the carelessness he worries about started to surface in the nineteenth minute.
Salah’s side-footed shot into the area was flawless, but the Hungarian lost concentration or felt like he was just going through the motions for the second time this season.
Alexis Mac Allister celebrates his early breakthrough for Liverpool
In any case, he missed the mark with his shot before Nunez, going for the grandiose as he usually does, blasted directly at goalie Lukasz Skorupski.
Bologna’s new manager Vincenzo Italiano was going bonkers on the touchline at this point in the 23rd minute.
Liverpool looked like world beaters as they played football like they were on the training ground. Italiano’s group was disorganised.
And then they turned off, as they have done time and time again despite the start that has propelled them to the top of the Prem.
Slot’s concerns, which at first glance could have seemed absurd, suddenly began to make sense.
Mac Allister was left with a simple chance to open the scoringCredit: Rex
Thijs Dallinga saw this early goal for Bologna ruled outCredit: Getty
Darwin Nunez threatened for Liverpool and also had a goal erased
In the 28th minute, Dan Ndoye launched a raid down the left, but his shot struck the bar instead.
Although the attacker was judged to be offside, captain Virgil van Dijk’s rearguard lacked cohesiveness.
Alisson saw it too, snapping at people ahead of him to improve his closing technique.
Shortly after Ndoye returned, The Kop was alarmed by Ricardo Orsolini’s diving header.
Ndoye struck a low left-footed shot. The shot went outside the goalkeeper’s right hand post, and Alisson and his teammates rode their luck.
The players of Bologna represented a team that hadn’t participated in a top-tier European competition in 60 years.
You could tell he was finding this repetition intolerable.
They achieved just a 0-0 opening against Shakhtar Donetsk, who had only scored seven goals in six league games, and from the beginning it appeared as though they had frozen beneath the weight of that history.
However, they were again inciting fear, and Slot’s expression as he left through the tunnel said it all: his team was once again playing mediocre football, as they had demonstrated in their 2-1 victory over Wolves on Saturday.
After the interval, the Italian team persisted, with Alisson feeling even more enraged over having to handle a 20-yard shot from Orsolini.
Then, from a prime position, Kacper Urabanski lost his head and opened fire.
By the 61st minute, Slot realised he needed a change, and Jota was the obvious choice to replace Nunez—both because of the Portuguese attacker’s relentless work rate in closing down space and his significantly better hitting ability.
With his arrival, the side was steadied, unity was restored, and the task was ultimately completed.
Salah, who became the first player from Liverpool to score in five straight Champions League home games, was inevitably the one to tie the score.
The Bologna defenders not only backed off, they gave him space to move onto his left foot.
And as Anfield’s Egyptian king moved into the box there was only ever going to be one outcome, his shot curving majestically into the top right corner of Skorupski’s net.
Arne Slot now has two Champions League wins out of two
