Mohamed Salah’s penalty destroys Girona and makes it six wins out of six for Liverpool | Champions League

Liverpool’s perfect Champions League campaign continued, setting a new record with a sixth win and a fifth goal conceded. Arne Slot’s side have not conceded a single goal since the third minute of the opening night at the San Siro, their best run in Europe to date. They also have their goalkeeper back and on a cold evening in Montilivi these things were linked. Mohamed Salah’s penalty secured a 1-0 win over Girona, but it was also about Alisson Becker, who made five saves on his return to virtually help secure a place in the round of 16 with two games to go.

If the record is perfect, the performance was not perfect. Slot said he was “far from happy” with the way Liverpool played. In the end it was enough: routine and maybe a bit of bureaucracy, the coach complains about a lack of intensity. The penalty that led to the win was certainly a magnifying glass ordered by the video assistant referee, held over a minor infraction. Luis Díaz fell to the ground during an attack by Donny van de Beek and lost his shoe. “When I saw that I thought: ‘He’s going to give it’,” admitted Girona coach Michel Sánchez. “It’s not the type of penalty I like, but that’s how we are with VAR.”

When Girona threatened, the Brazilian kept them at bay and showed no signs of inactivity since October, although it would be going too far to push him into the role of savior. And then, not for the first time, Liverpool took a small step forward in the second half, the penalty ultimately securing the victory that would give them a direct place in the round of 16 and thus the break in February. Girona’s first season in this competition is almost over and after six games they only have three points.

“I almost feel sorry for them because they deserve so much more this Champions League season, but we have an incredible goalkeeper,” said Slot. “I joked that maybe our players gave him so much work because they wanted to see how good he really was, but that wasn’t the plan.”

Alisson’s touch was the second of the game, the kick-off sending him in that direction so he could reacquaint himself with the ball, and it was also the most crucial touches of the first half. It took 11 minutes for him to make the first of four saves in the opening period. It started with Bryan Gil bursting through the middle and passing the ball to the left for Miguel Gutiérrez. His cross evaded his original target, Daley Blind, but it fell to Ladislav Krejci, whose side-footed shot was stopped by the goalkeeper.

That was the first time Girona had crossed the halfway line and Liverpool had already seen a header chance for Joe Gomez that Paulo Gazzaniga had saved, but it seemed to awaken something in them. Liverpool were made aware that it was a game. A moment later Gil was all alone in the back. It was surprising that the flag was not flown; even more unexpectedly, Gil slipped within the area. He managed to block a shot from the ground, but Alisson saved. The noise level rose; Girona had arrived. Another shot was fired, hit by Gutiérrez, and Alisson threw an arm forward.

It was true that Liverpool had more possession and there were chances for them, Darwin Núñez heading narrowly wide. But Girona wanted to win them. Ryan Gravenberch and Andy Robertson blocked successive shots from Arnaut Danjuma and Alejandro Francés before Alisson’s throw prompted Liverpool to make a move that ended with Núñez heading a long, deflected cross into his own feet. The Uruguayan was then pushed into the goal by Salah’s angled ball, but Gazzaniga was able to stop it with his right foot.

The fact that it was still 0-0 was mainly thanks to the two goalkeepers. Alisson closed the first half with a fourth save, denying Yáser Asprilla, and opened the second half with a fifth save, this time from Danjuma.

Things were different now, Liverpool took control. However, when pushed deeper into their own territory, Girona seemed comfortable enough to hold their opponents at that point. Liverpool had little space to get through and struggled to get through. Girona formed a steadfast wall, the ball was moved from side to side across the front of the penalty area and back again, but most of the plays ended with low crosses that reached no real target and were easily headed away. When a gap actually opened, Gazzaniga saved from Robertson.

And exactly on the hour it happened. Another ball, again deep, landed at Díaz, who fell to the ground. There didn’t seem to be much in it and there were few real objections, but the Colombian stayed down. And as Liverpool prepared for a corner, Benoît Bastien signaled for them to take a break with a finger to his ear. Finally he was called to the screen to take a look. There still wasn’t much to see, but he had seen enough, the Colombian’s boot, which was taken off during the challenge, providing enough evidence.

There have been three missed Champions League penalties here this season, but Salah didn’t do as well as Bojan Miovski, Cristhian Stuani and Ayase Ueda, scoring his 16th of the season. Of Liverpool’s last 23 goals, it was the 20th to come in the second half and it was done.