Liverpool 5-1 Toulouse: Player ratings as Gravenberch inspires another Europa League win
Liverpool put one foot in the Europa League knockout stages on Thursday night with what was eventually a comprehensive 4-1 win over French side Toulouse.
Diogo Jota initially got the ball rolling at Anfield, only for Thijs Dallinga to hit back against the run of play, symbolising the admirable spirit that Toulouse brought to the game. But Wataru Endo's first Liverpool goal and one from Darwin Nunez before half-time put Jurgen Klopp's team into a commanding lead.
Player of the match Ryan Gravenberch later put the icing on the cake, with substitute Mohamed Salah adding a fifth for Liverpool for good measure in stoppage time.
Liverpool wasted little time in taking the lead, going ahead inside the opening 10 minutes when Jota skipped through the challenges and very calmly finding the bottom left corner. The Reds then stayed dominant and Guillaume Restes had to be alert when Nunez sat down his marker and fired at the onrushing Toulouse goalkeeper narrowing the angle.
Given that, the Toulouse equaliser came from nowhere and was alarmingly simple. As a counter attack developed, there was acres of space for Dallinga to run into – Trent Alexander-Arnold tried and failed to catch him offside – and kept his composure to beat Caoimhin Kelleher.
The goal flattened the crowd inside Anfield and it took a back to basics set-piece to restore the advantage. Harvey Elliott saw Curtis Jones in space for a short corner, with Jones in turn laying it back to Alexander-Arnold. There wasn't any pressure on the ball from Toulouse, allowing the Liverpool skipper for the night to pick his spot with a cross for Endo to head in.
And it wasn't long before Nunez had got Liverpool’s third before even the half-time whistle. Jones' attempted shot rebounded
Read on 90min.com
