Liverpool summon grit, resolve that could carry them to Champions League places

SUNDERLAND, England — Anfield’s travelling army serenaded the final whistle at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday night, and for good reason. Liverpool’s 1-0 win over newly promoted Sunderland was neither fluent nor flamboyant, yet it may yet be remembered as the evening Arne Slot’s side rediscovered the resilience required to gate-crash next season’s Champions League.

For 61 minutes the plot felt ominously familiar. Arsenal and Manchester City had both been humbled here; Liverpool, dominant in possession and territory, appeared destined to join them on the casualty list. Sunderland’s back five repelled 14 first-half shots, Robin Roefs clawed away Florian Wirtz’s drive and the frame of the goal denied the German prodigy a spectacular opener. With 68.2% possession and no reward, anxiety rippled through the away end.

Then, on the hour, Liverpool’s 10th corner of the night finally bore fruit. Mohamed Salah, quiet again by his own lofty standards, whipped a teasing cross to the penalty spot where Virgil van Dijk climbed above a forest of red-and-white shirts to thunder a header inside the far post. The goal, the captain’s 23rd in the Premier League, made him the highest-scoring defender in the competition’s history for the club, eclipsing Sami Hyypia. Salah’s assist, meanwhile, drew him level with Steven Gerrard on 92, a joint-record for Liverpool in the era.

The strike did more than alter the scoreboard; it recalibrated the mood. Slot’s men, stung by Sunday’s late collapse against Manchester City and shorn of the suspended Dominik Szoboszlai, suddenly played with the conviction that has eluded them for swathes of the campaign. When, moments from time, Alexis Mac Allister launched into a sliding, full-stretch block to shepherd the ball out on halfway, the away section erupted as though another goal had flown in. On a night short on artistry, industry was celebrated like genius.

The victory lifts Liverpool to within three points of fourth-placed Manchester United and two behind Chelsea in fifth, both of whom dropped points 24 hours earlier. With 11 matches remaining, the race for Europe’s elite club competition has tightened; belief, scarce only days ago, is coursing back through the red half of Merseyside.

The win came at a cost. Wataru Endo, deputising out of position at right-back, crumpled under a second-half challenge and left the pitch on a stretcher. Slot later confirmed the Japan international’s ankle injury “looks serious,” adding another name to a casualty list that has already forced seven different players to fill the right-back slot this season. Joe Gomez’s return offered immediate cover, yet the manager’s relief was tempered by concern for Endo.

If adversity has been a constant, so too has been the renaissance of Ibrahima Konaté. The French centre-back, once derided for being “too often at the crime scene,” produced a towering display against Sunderland’s livewire striker Brian Brobbey, notably recovering with a last-ditch slide to deny what seemed a certain second-half equaliser. Alongside Van Dijk he helped limit the hosts to a solitary shot on target, a welcome corrective to the late lapses that proved so costly against City.

“Impressed but not surprised,” Slot said of Konaté. “He’s an example, almost of our season — he’s been so unlucky. He’s played games where he’s been so good for 89 minutes and then one moment ruins our game, his game. Tonight he stayed concentrated for 95.”

Concentration, grit, collective resolve — qualities Slot has demanded publicly and privately — finally surfaced when points were non-negotiable. Liverpool have not always mustered such unity this term, and the road map to the top four remains treacherous. Yet on a bitter Wearside evening, the champions showed they can still grind out the victories upon which seasons pivot.

The war for Champions League qualification is far from won, but Liverpool’s first salvo of the run-in has been fired with stubborn intent. If they are to dine at Europe’s top table again, nights like this, rather than the freewheeling exhibitions of old, may prove the template.