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Liverpool defeated LASK 4-0 to advance to the Europa League knockout stages.

In the twelfth minute, Luis Diaz gave the home team an early lead when he headed in a diving header to meet Joe Gomez’s delivery from the right side.

Soon after, Cody Gakpo scored his second goal after stand-in skipper Mohamed Salah set him up with a neat ball across the goal’s face to meet at the far post.

Five minutes into the second half, Salah added a third goal from the penalty spot when Tobias Lawal, the visiting goalkeeper, bundled Gakpo in the area.

Deep into added time, Gakpo scored his second goal of the match in front of The Kop to cap off an excellent evening for Jurgen Klopp’s team.\

Toulouse’s home draw against Union Saint-Gilloise and the Reds’ easy victory guarantee the team’s automatic promotion to the top of Group E.

The main talking points from Anfield were as follows:

The flawed Reds cruise to victory.

As it seems, Jurgen Klopp was only partially correct on the Europa League.

The manager of Liverpool did not anticipate that his team would breeze through their group stage campaign, and as a result, things were not easy going at all.

However, Klopp’s directive to finish qualifying for the knockout rounds with time to spare was strictly followed when LASK was easily dispatched.

The club’s best start at home since the double-winning 1985–86 season was achieved with this triumph, which was the club’s tenth consecutive victory at Anfield in all competitions.

With Cody Gakpo’s brace, the Reds also had five players with five goals apiece before December arrived for the first time in thirty years.

However, these statistical anomalies are insignificant compared to the fact that Klopp’s team qualified for the round of 16 ahead of schedule and earned the title of Group E victors.

This was as near to a perfect qualification route as it gets, even with the loss to Toulouse, and the Liverpool manager would not have it any other way.

Salah exhibits a new side to Anfield.

In Liverpool’s front line, Mohamed Salah tries to set an example, but prior to the Austrian’s arrival, there were some things that the mercurial striker was unable to accomplish.

In his pursuit of becoming a truly exceptional all-around player, the Egyptian has fallen short in other aspects, regardless of how many goals he smashes.

Ever since he expressed disappointment over being passed over for a Champions League match in 2020, taking up the role of stand-in captain has been a point of controversy.

The Anfield supporters saw a completely different side of Salah on Thursday, when he finally had the armband on from the beginning for the first time.

In a first half in which the hosts could have reasonably gained more than a commanding two-goal advantage, he was more of a provider than a poacher.

After the break, not much happened either, save for him scoring a penalty in the 50th minute to get within one goal of 200 goals while wearing a red shirt.

Klopp would definitely like to see his lucky charm score goals rather than set them up, but Salah’s captaincy cameo gives him more tools in his arsenal.

Kelleher grew warmer to take up the space.

The injury to Alisson was threatening to cloud Liverpool’s future.

It could not come at a worse time for the Brazil international to be expected to miss several weeks of action due to a hamstring injury sustained at Manchester City.

Luckily, Klopp has a more than capable deputy in Caoimhin Kelleher, who LASK gave a training workout to late in the second half.

The visitors gave the Republic of Ireland an early warm-up workout by putting him to work as soon as they eventually got sight of the goal.

Ibrahim Mustapha first tried to counterattack by going around him, but he was unable to do so since his opponent expertly reduced the angle.

In the latter stages of the game, Kelleher showed quick reflexes to deny both Robert Zulj and Moses Usor at close range, so neither was able to overcome him.

With Fulham on the horizon, it was worthwhile practice that offers hopes that the 25-year-old can handle the pressure as Liverpool’s temporary No.1.