From minute four to the final whistle, this went exactly how Arne Slot would have dreamt it when his head hit the pillow the previous night.
Liverpool secured their safe passage to the last-16 of the Champions League without breaking a sweat, thrashing Qarabag 6-0.
In doing so, and perhaps just as importantly, they managed to secure two midweeks off for their jaded team as they will not have to contest the stage some are calling the punishment play-offs.
Mohamed Salah was also back in the goals, his first for Liverpool since November 1 after a public fallout with the head coach and month away with Egypt. It was some goal, too.
It ended up a tough night for the Azerbaijanis as the Premier League champions ran riot with Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Co also scoring and finding much-needed confidence.
But despite all those positive points to note, it was what happened just before the rout commenced that would bug Slot in the coming days: yet another defender pulling up injured.
Mohamed Salah tapped the Liverpool badge after scoring his first goal for the club since his public fallout with Arne Slot back in November
Salah’s goal was part of a near perfect night for Slot as his side earned a 6-0 win to book their place in the last-16 of the Champions League
The main disappointment came with Jeremie Frimpong being forced off in the opening minutes, adding to their growing list of unavailable defenders
Add Jeremie Frimpong to a list of absentees which includes: Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate.
The latter two of that quartet are hopefuls for Saturday’s game against Newcastle – but it is still a stark worry for a team who missed out on signing England defender Marc Guehi this month.
And the lack of defensive reinforcements is the counterbalance weighing down any ambitious thoughts of conquering Europe this year.
After thrashing Marseille in the unwelcoming cauldron of Stade Velodrome seven days earlier, beating both Real and Atletico Madrid and winning away at Inter Milan this season, there is a genuine school of thought that the continental stage could be Liverpool’s this year.
‘It’s only two years ago that we were playing Europa League and we went out in the quarter-finals against Atalanta,’ said Slot.
‘So two seasons in a row now, being in the last 16 and this season, as we were last season, we were very hungry for more. We will definitely be hungry for more this season as well.’
Slot had opined this week that being knocked out of the Champions League last March to Paris Saint-Germain aided his team’s Premier League title tilt.
Using the same logic in reverse this year, Liverpool have thrown in the towel and waved the white flag on a league title defence – so why can’t they put all their eggs in the European basket and go deep? They have certainly shown the pedigree in this league phase.
Alexis Mac Allister scored twice for Liverpool as the Reds finished third in the league phase
Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike were on target as Liverpool thrashed Azerbaijan’s champions
The game started with Slot left scratching his head again as Frimpong pulled up and Wataru Endo was needed to fill in at right back.
But the under-fire boss was soon leaping in celebration as Alexis Mac Allister headed home from a corner, Liverpool’s fourth set-piece goal since Christmas as they seem to have started to fix a problematic area.
Wirtz soon made it two with a drilled effort from the edge of the penalty area as Qarabag, who were certainly no mugs with 10 points in the league, were torn apart time and time again.
Salah scored his first goal since his return from the Africa Cup of Nations with a trademark left-footed curler, before Ekitike raced through and calmly made it four. Mac Allister bundled home his second for Liverpool’s fifth.
Federico Chiesa came off the bench to complete the victory, before Slot said that avoiding the play-off round should aid their injury crisis.
‘Let’s see on Jeremie,’ he said, talking about Frimpong’s injury. ‘We also go into a schedule of one game a week which would usually mean less injuries. But you’re never sure.’
