Jürgen Klopp’s side were pitted against some of the heavyweights of European football when the Champions League group stage draws were made back in September.
Group B included Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, A.C Milan and F.C. Porto, making it visibly the toughest group on paper.
As it turns out, the Premier League giants have made light work of the supposed ‘group of death’ by defeating Porto and Milan once each and outclassing Atletico Madrid twice.
The mighty Reds have helped themselves to the top spot now with 12 points in the bank, winning all 4 of their group-stage encounters.
The Merseyside outfit has comfortably won the group with 2 games to spare. Porto, the closest side (2nd) in the table, have 5 points and would only be able to make it 11 at max if they win the rest of the two games.
Atletico swept aside
Liverpool’s clash against LaLiga winners Atletico Madrid was a testament to their ferocity as they swept the Spanish giants aside with a rather comfortable 2-0 victory at Anfield.
Forwards Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane were at their deadly best, managing to find the net once each to put the Reds 2-0 up in the first half. Right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold provided both the assists as the Spanish champions were crushed by the hosts in Klopp’s 50th UCL encounter as manager of the club.
Liverpool’s singlehanded domination of the presumed “group of death” was a surprising turn of events and provided sufficient fodder for comical memes and snarky jibes from Reds enthusiasts.
The fans termed their side’s performance so far as “big boy behaviour of the highest degree”, as Klopp’s men reduced the most competitive group of the 2021/22 edition of UCL to the standards of “Europa Conference League”, as opined by one of them.
Boss Jürgen Klopp too was the recipient of rapturous applause on social media, given how the Reds have gone about their business under him, becoming one of the strongest contenders to lift the trophy once again.