Salah gets the Kop smiling but another Liverpool injury adds to Slot’s crisis

LIVERPOOL 6-0 QARABAG: Mohamed Salah’s goal helps Reds finish the Champions League group stage in style after Jeremie Frimpong limps off to worsen the defensive injury crisis

When Florian Wirtz executed the tidiest of finishes to put the outcome of this non-contest beyond doubt inside the first quarter of the match, Arne Slot did not even take his hands from his pockets.

Because by then, he knew this ultra-professional completion of a Champions League formality would be coming at a cost.

Less than two minutes into proceedings, Jeremie Frimpong, shepherding Abdellah Zoubir at pace along the home side’s right flank, abruptly pulled up lame. Ryan Gravenberch, an emergency centre-half in Liverpool’s defensive availability crisis, put his hands to his head.

After making his professional debut in September, 2019, Frimpong had one significant injury before joining Liverpool last summer, missing eight weeks of Bayer Leverkusen’s 2021/22 season. Ahead of this setback, he had already missed 11 weeks of Liverpool’s season with two hamstring injuries.

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READ MORE: Liverpool discover four possible Champions League last 16 opponents after thrashing QarabagREAD MORE: Liverpool’s injury crisis deepens as Jeremie Frimpong becomes latest Reds casualty

He now looks certain to miss many more. That has been Arne Slot’s and Liverpool’s lot this season. And Slot had only spoken about managing Frimpong’s minutes prior to this game. The Liverpool boss will be hoping Joe Gomez is fit enough to start on Saturday when Newcastle United are the visitors.

At least Slot can hope his personnel crisis will have eased by the time their Champions League engagements resume and at least he had the tonic of a stress-free win after the difficult spell in the Premier League.

He also had the enjoyment of seeing Mo Salah score his first Liverpool goal since November 1, his first since the infamous Elland Road interview.

Salah and the Kop enjoyed the strike from a set-piece move early in the second half and it is fair to say the spat between marquee player and manager is over. Salah, with his 49th Champions League goal, had fun against hapless Qarabag, whose performance made you wonder exactly how they managed to arrive on Merseyside with ten points to their name.

And the Egyptian was not the only one to have fun after Alexis Mac Allister and Wirtz had put Liverpool in first half cruise control.

After Salah’s hit, Hugo Ekitike ran half the length of the field for the fourth, Mac Allister walked in his second and Liverpool’s fifth and Federico Chiesa completed the rout.

Even though the one-sided nature of the game was a bit embarrassing, it was emphatic and it appeared to reinvigorate fans who have become a little less than enthusiastic of late. It will certainly not go down as one of the more memorable European nights at Anfield but a clean sheet and a free-scoring run-out can do no-one any harm.

And Slot could also give several of his first-choice men a breather well before the end of the non-contest. Whether or not it will give Liverpool momentum and confidence as they head into the game against Newcastle on the back of a winless five-game run in the Premier League is another matter.

But at least it might have helped Slot forget the latest injury blow to plague his season. Or maybe not.

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