Liverpool were too strong for their German opponents on Tuesday, scoring four unanswered goals to give Xabi Alonso an unhappy homecoming.
The Bayer Leverkusen boss brought his team to Anfield, looking to extend their unbeaten away run in all competitions but second-half goals from Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo maintained the Reds’ perfect start.
The Colombian, who began the game in an unfamiliar No 10 position starred for Arne Slot’s men. The 27-year-old has been a man reborn under the Dutchman and his first-ever Liverpool hat-trick exemplified that transformation.
Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah did his bit to contribute to the statement win. The Egyptian assisted two of the Reds’ strikes, taking his record for the season in all competitions to nine goals and nine assists.
Here, Mail Sport’s Joe Bernstein the rule over whose star shone the brightest – and which players still have some way to go.
Luis Diaz’s first-ever Liverpool hat-trick helped propel Liverpool to an emphatic win at Anfield
Cody Gakpo continued his fine run of form in front of goal on Tuesday night against the German champions
LIVERPOOL RATINGS
CAOIMHIN KELLEHER – 7
Best compliment you can pay the Irishman is that Liverpool haven’t missed Alisson. Not overworked but commanded his box and showed authority in everything he did. And when called upon late to save his clean sheet, he narrowed his angles to keep out Robert Andrich.
TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD – 6.5
Doesn’t often face a physical challenge as Victor Boniface presented him with but the English defender stuck to his task well. Passing range wasn’t quite at its usual standard.
VIRGIL VAN DIJK – 6.5
Played as if he had slippers on. Such a calm and reassuring presence at the back. While Leverkusen had a lot of the ball in the first half, they couldn’t convert into proper chances
IBRAHIMA KONATE – 7
Liverpool fans were pleased to see him back out on the pitch so quickly having been taken off injured against Brighton. Has a formidable partnership with van Dijk
KOSTAS TSIMIKAS – 7
Selected ahead of Andy Robertson for the second time in a row and justified his selection. If not quite as energetic as his Scottish rival, the quality of his cross is evident for all to see.
Caoimhin Kelleher continues to flourish in goal for the Reds in the absence of No 1 Alisson
Ibrahima Konate was a doubt for the game but was a formidable presence at the back for the home side
Curtis Jones’ superb assist unlocked the Bayer Leverkusen defence at Anfield on Tuesday night
ALEXIS MAC ALLISTER – 6.5
It wasn’t a must-win for Liverpool so the Argentine could be content with being neat and tidy, which he can do in his sleep, rather than looking for worldie passes
RYAN GRAVENBERCH – 6
The Dutchman has been so good this season, he was looser in possession than we’ve been used to. He will have learned a lot from coming up against Granit Xhaka even though Liverpool eventually dominated
MO SALAH – 7
Had scored in his previous five home Champions League games but this time had to be satisfied with a couple of assists with textbook crosses for Gakpo and Diaz. Worked hard and had shot saved by Hradecky after cutting inside. Also forced Garcia into a booking
CURTIS JONES – 8
Fast becoming Liverpool’s stand-out player of season. Preferred to Dominik Szoboszlai at No10 for good reason, he made runs into the box and showed terrific quality on the ball. One pass to release Gakpo at the end of the first half took out the entire Leverkusen defence and his slide-rule ball to Diaz was an invitation for the South American to score
CODY GAKPO – 6.5
Put in a shift and having sent one shot at the goalkeeper, he made no mistake with a header that was given after a VAR check – having originally been disallowed for offside.
Mohamed Salah assisted two of Liverpool’s goals to take his tally in all competitions to nine goals and nine assists
Diaz excelled in an unfamiliar centre-forward position and opened the scoring with a brilliant finish
Arne Slot has led his team to 14 wins in their first 16 matches in all competitions this season
LUIS DIAZ – 9
Started at centre-forward where he made an impact with a brilliant, dinked finish to open the scoring. And once Darwin Nunez had come on, he was equally effective down the left, drifting into the far post to score his second, and Liverpool’s third. Completed his hat-trick with late poacher’s effort to take man-of-the-match from Jones.
Substitutes
Dominik Szoboszlai (for Jones 73) 6Connor Bradley (for Alexander-Arnold 81)Andy Robertson (for Tsimikas 81)
Darwin Nunez (for Gakpo 81)Jarrell Quansah (for Konate 88)
MANAGER – ARNE SLOT 7.5
What a perfect way to show in the presence of Xabi Alonso, the early front-runner for the Liverpool job, that he’s a more than worthy successor to Jurgen Klopp. Deserved The Kop singing his name at full blast
Referee – Danny Makkelie 6