Liverpool all but qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League after Mohamed Salah's VAR-awarded penalty secured a narrow 1-0 win over Girona at the Municipal de Montilivi.
The result means Liverpool have won their opening six games of a European campaign for the second time in the club's history. In Liverpool's last outing against Newcastle, Arne Slot's side managed to win for only the third time in 21 games under the Dutchman.
They arrived in Girona knowing that another win would take them ever closer to securing a place in the last 16 as one of the seeded teams. They consolidated their position at the top of the standings after Donny van de Beek was only penalized for a foul on Luis Diaz in the penalty area after VAR intervened.
Salah kept his composure and converted his penalty past Paulo Gazzaniga to keep Liverpool perfect.
The Egypt international became the 11th man to score 50 goals in the Champions League, overtaking Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kylian Mbappé, while Thierry Henry (51) and Thomas Müller (54) are now in the crosshairs.
After missing from the spot against Real Madrid a fortnight ago, there was no mistake this time as he got the chance in the 63rd minute to extend an impressive goalscoring record in 11 of his last 16 games.
It had been a somewhat difficult performance from the Premier League leaders up to that point, with Alisson making good saves to deny Bryan Gil and Arnaut Danjuma on his return to the side.
Twenty of Liverpool's last 23 goals have now come after the break, and they may already have enough points to guarantee a place in the top eight – depending on other results in matchweek six.
Slot's side return to European action at home to Lille in January, when they can mathematically secure a last-16 draw against a side that has made it through the play-offs.
Meanwhile, Girona are staring at the prospect of elimination after a fifth defeat in their first six games.
Why Alisson's return matters
This result gives Slot the luxury of being able to rotate in Liverpool's last two league games. Don't underestimate the benefit of that as they try to fight on all fronts.
Former Southampton and Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu admitted Girona had to do their best to take Liverpool out of rhythm – and the hosts created several chances to complete a shock victory.
Brazilian international Alisson helped the Reds to a fifth successive clean sheet in this competition, something they last achieved in 2005. The 32-year-old has been sidelined since October with a hamstring problem that has forced him to miss 11 games.
In his absence, Caoimhin Kelleher kept five clean sheets, including against Real Madrid and Manchester City, but made his first real mistake at Newcastle on Wednesday, with his late assessment allowing the home side to grab a 3-3 draw.
But Alisson has that extra quality. He showed that to frustrate Danjuma more than once on a night when the people in front of him were not at their best.
Girona's end product let them down, but when there were moments of quality it was Alisson who stood tall to ensure there were no hiccups in Catalonia.
“Alisson definitely didn't look like he had been out for two months,” said Slot. “I joked with the players that maybe they wanted to see how ready he was because they had him make so many saves. But he showed why I always say he is our number one.”
Darwin Nunez, who has scored just one goal in his last ten appearances, was denied twice by Gazzaniga, but the Uruguayan international had another of those now-too-common frustrating performances with his fluffy header from Dominik Szoboszlai's hanging cross, which set the supporting Curtis Jones meant and Salah couldn't take advantage.
But the hosts were undeterred and would have been ahead if not for Alisson and Daley Blind's lack of composure in front of goal.
The former Manchester United, Ajax and Bayern Munich defender's last goal came 11 months ago and that seemed evident in his swiss-and-miss from Miguel Gutierrez's cross in the six-yard box.
Alisson saved Alejandro Frances' follow-up attempt, punched away Gutierrez's shot and flung himself to the right to keep out Yaser Asprilla's long-range drive. Liverpool rallied after the restart and won.
Conclusion: Darwin needs a goal
Liverpool boss Arne Slot:
“I almost feel sorry for Girona. They are such a high quality team and they deserve much more than the three points they have so far. They had a very good game plan today, but we had a very good goalkeeper. “
“I would have liked to see Darwin score because he needs a goal and that's why I kept him on the pitch for a long time. He was a threat, but when a striker doesn't score you always wonder if that's the case. ” a bad game or due to a lack of confidence.
“Girona lost a lot of quality in the summer, so to play like they do and give us, Feyenoord and PSV so much trouble, says a lot about them.”
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