Liverpool Become First Club To Qualify For Champions League Knockout Phase After Real Madrid Win

Liverpool beat Real Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday night at Anfield

Joseph Agbobli | 2 Hours Ago

Alexis Mac Allister celebrates with Luis Diaz after scoring Liverpool's first goal against Real Madrid / IMAGO / PA Images

Liverpool are the first team to reach the round of 16 or knockout phase play-offs following a 2-0 win over Real Madrid at Anfield, a fifth straight league phase win for the Reds.

Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo were on target for Arne Slot's side who are top of the league table with 15 points, two points above second-placed Inter Milan. They have already seen off AC Milan, Bologna, Red Bull Leipzig, and Bayer Leverkusen.

Cody Gakpo celebrates in front of the Kop / IMAGO / Action Plus

Following the victory over the current holders, Liverpool are also now guaranteed to finish in the top 24 with three rounds of matches remaining. In the new Champions League format, the first eight clubs in the final table will advance directly to the last 16, while those placed ninth to 24th will contest a two-legged play-off round.

The Reds will take on Girona next in the competition on December 10, and before meetings with Lille and PSV Eindhoven follow in January. After the game against Real Madrid, Arne Slot said at his post-match press conference: "I think it’s always good to win a game, and especially a big game like this because you know you face so many quality players.

"For me, it would even mean more if we go into the later stages of the tournament because this is such a strange and different set-up in the Champions League that it’s difficult to judge how important these wins are. If we arrive in the last 16 or the quarter-finals or wherever we can arrive to and we face them again and then we are able to beat them, that would be maybe a bigger statement than this. But we are definitely happy with the win, let that be clear.

Liverpool s head coach Arne Slot celebrates after the FA Premier League match between Southampton FC and Liverpool FC at St Mary s Stadium / IMAGO / Propaganda Photo

"I think the effort we put in during the first half helps us to be as good as we are in the second half. If you play again at this level, it’s so difficult to outplay them already in the first half but you invest, you invest, you invest – you keep on running, keep being aggressive, keep trying to press them high.

"And then in the second half, it’s not only with us but you see more goals in the second half than the first half. That has all to do with the players also getting tired. We also invest in the first half to show up even in a better way in the second half."

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