Liverpool 6-0 Qarabag: Can Champions League rescue Liverpool’s season of turmoil?

Arne Slot fell into the welcoming embrace of the Champions League while Mohamed Salah felt Anfield’s affection as Liverpool enjoyed a rare night of comfort and joy this season.

The Reds’ Premier League title defence has contained elements of the shambolic, increasing scrutiny and pressure on Slot after winning the title in his first campaign.

Salah’s incendiary Elland Road outburst in December, when he claimed after being dropped that he had been “thrown under the bus” by Slot and Liverpool, only added to the air of unrest surrounding the club.

Liverpool‘s faithful old friend the Champions League has provided respite amid their troubles. So could it now rescue their season as they chase a seventh triumph in the competition?

For all their troubles in the Premier League, Liverpool have looked much more at home in Europe, Wednesday’s 6-0 win against Qarabag ensuring an automatic place in the last 16 without the need for a play-off.

And history tells us Liverpool, with the Anfield factor added to the equation, will fancy their chances in the knockout phase.

It is a stretch to paint this Liverpool team, on current form, as anything like potential Champions League winners, but they must never be underestimated over a two-legged format.

This was a night Slot and Salah needed after the turbulence of this campaign. It was their most comfortable game of the season.

It will not turn the spotlight away from Slot with Liverpool so off-colour in the league, but this was as easy as it gets in Europe. Qarabag were compliant opponents, not made of the stuff that enables Premier League opposition to scent blood in almost every game against his side.

It was Slot’s biggest winning margin as Liverpool manager in his 91st game in charge, and their biggest victory since March 2023, when they won 7-0 against Manchester United.

Inevitably, this season being what it is, there was a cloud over the celebrations, with summer signing Jeremie Frimpong once more struck down by a muscle injury, meaning he lasted less than two minutes.