Liverpool’s bid to defend their Champions League title is still on track after they saw off a spirited Salzburg side in their final group game.

Group E was in the balance going into the match. Liverpool needed at least a draw to progress to the knockout stages, while Salzburg set out to get the win they required. In doing so they gave Jurgen Klopp’s side the space to create chances.

This made for an end to end, attack-minded match in which both teams could have taken the lead in the first half. The better opportunities fell to Liverpool, and they missed plenty of them, but sealed the win in the space of two second-half minutes when Sadio Mane set up Naby Keita for the opener, and Mohamed Salah scored from the most difficult of angles.

“Salzburg was unbelievably strong, especially in the first half, but we were ready for that fight,” said Klopp. 

“We could have scored in the first half, and maybe should have scored. In the second half it’s not easy to keep that intensity.

“We scored the goals and could have scored more but really massive respect for Jesse [Marsch] and Salzburg for what they did.”

With victory in the bag, the Liverpool fans added a new song to their repertoire, belting out their version of “oh Jeremy Corbyn.” 

The Labour leader’s image appears along with John McDonnell on one of the banners displayed on the Kop at Liverpool home games, but it was something else to hear Corbyn’s name being broadcast around the world from Austria ahead of today’s election.

Elsewhere in Group E, Napoli’s 4-0 victory at home to Genk saw them join Liverpool in the last 16, but it wasn’t enough for their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, who was sacked shortly after the game as a result of his side’s poor form in Serie A. His replacement will be former Milan boss, Gennaro Gattuso.