Anfield gets Liverpool back on track in a throwback to Jurgen Klopp days

Anfield rediscovered its voice and, with it, Liverpool rediscovered something resembling their old selves. On a Champions League night stripped of away supporters, the ground still crackled, the players still surged, and for 90 minutes the uneasy compromise between Arne Slot’s measured blueprint and the club’s visceral past blurred into something far more familiar.

The backdrop had been uneasy. Three days earlier a draw that felt like defeat to Tottenham was soundtracked by boos and the sight of thousands heading for the exits early. Slot, who had once insisted the crowd would embrace control if the football was right, admitted this week that “our fans will be like they always are, especially on European nights.” It sounded like a plea.

From the first whistle against Galatasaray it was answered. The Kop roared, the team snapped into tackles, and the ball was funnelled forward at pace. Mohamed Salah, stationed centrally and far closer to goal than in recent weeks, slammed home a stunning opener, provided a sumptuous assist and still found time to rattle the woodwork and miss a penalty. By full-time he had registered seven attempts, six on target, 13 touches inside the opposition box and a performance that felt like a personal rebuke to the season’s earlier inertia.

Florian Wirtz, liberated on the floating left, created more chances than any Liverpool player in a Champions League fixture since Opta records began, allowing Dominik Szoboszlai to orchestrate centrally while Cody Gakpo watched from the bench. Width came from full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, freeing the forwards to wreak havoc inside. The result was a breathless five-minute spell that yielded three goals – one disallowed – and a decibel level not heard on L4 since the days of heavy-metal football.

Slot’s post-match demeanour was that of a man who had stumbled across a winning formula. The high press, the direct running, the refusal to sit on a lead: all hallmarks of the previous regime, all exactly what the crowd had craved. Whether this was a tactical epiphany or simply the perfect opponent remains to be seen, but the symbiosis between stands and pitch was unmistakable.

The Dutchman now faces a quarter-final date with PSG, the side that eliminated Liverpool last season. If he is to avenge that exit he will need the same Anfield roar, the same intensity, the same identity. Wednesday night offered a tantalising reminder that when Liverpool marry urgency with quality, the outcome can still be thunderous.

Anfield, it seems, still knows how to remind its team of who they are.