Liverpool 2-0 Atletico Madrid: Reds through to knockout stages as group winners

Liverpool claimed their place in the Champions League knockout stages as Group B winners with two games to spare by beating 10-man Atletico Madrid 2-0.

Goals from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane eased the Reds past Atleti, who lost Felipe to a first-half red card, continuing to make light work of a draw that had initially been described as tough.

Diego Simeone's men are now left in a battle with Porto and Milan to qualify in second place.

Liverpool made a great start to proceedings when Trent Alexander-Arnold cracked open a five-man defence with a perfect cross from deep on the right that took one bounce before being nodded in by Jota after just 13 minutes.

And the defender repeated the trick soon after, finding Mane for a sidefooted finish to a move he had initiated with a brilliant drive through midfield.

As had been the case in the sides' meeting in Madrid, going two goals down seemed to wake Atleti up, but their hopes of overturning that deficit in similar fashion were dealt a serious blow past the half-hour mark.

Felipe looked all set to receive a booking for cynically bringing down the breaking Mane after a corner but instead earned himself a straight red by refusing to walk to the referee to receive it.

Liverpool made their numerical advantage tell during a bright start to the second half that saw a Jota goal ruled out for a tight offside before he and Mohamed Salah both wasted presentable opportunities.

It appeared the hosts could be left to rue those misses when the returning Luis Suarez smashed a deflected effort home just before the hour, only for VAR to spot Jose Giminez had taken up an offside position before knocking the ball down to his fellow Uruguayan.

And they were given another let-off with 15 minutes remaining as Hector Herrera drove badly wide after a counter started by some loose play from Thiago Alcantara.

However, there were no more scares for Liverpool - the loss of substitute Roberto Firmino to injury aside - as they saw out the remainder of an impressive win over the LaLiga champions.

 

What does it mean? Reds' workload eased

Jurgen Klopp will be utterly delighted that Liverpool have been able to effectively render their final two group games meaningless.

Premier League teams taking part in European competition face a hectic schedule in the coming months, and now the Reds boss will be able to rotate against Porto and AC Milan.

Alexander-Arnold comes to the fore

Creating chances against a Simeone defence is never easy but, fortunately for Liverpool, they have Alexander-Arnold in their team.

The 23-year-old made more passes than any other player on the pitch (112) and laid on two beautiful assists in running the show from right-back, as he so often does.

Unhappy return for Suarez

Suarez's last outing at Anfield ended in a 4-0 defeat for Barcelona and boos from the crowd that once loved him, and so he will have been determined to make amends this time.

However, 19 touches, zero shots and seven losses of possession sum up another forgettable evening for the 34-year-old.

Key Opta Facts

– Liverpool are unbeaten in 25 matches in all competitions (W18 D7), their joint-longest such run since they joined the Football League in 1893 (also a run of 25 in 1982).

– Atleti have lost back-to-back Champions League group stage games for only the second time under Simeone, also doing so in November 2019.

– Liverpool have progressed from their Champions League group in all five of their seasons in the competition with Klopp in charge. They have also started a campaign in the competition with four wins in their opening four matches for the very first time.

– Since his Liverpool debut in September 2020, only Christian Benteke, Edinson Cavani and Harry Kane (all seven) have scored more headed goals for Premier League clubs than Jota (six).
 

What's next?

Liverpool return to Premier League action on Sunday when they face a tricky trip to in-form West Ham United.

Atletico travel to Valencia in La Liga on the same day.