Cody Gakpo has warned Liverpool must keep their focus after making it three wins out of three in the Champions League with their 1-0 victory away to RB Leipzig on Wednesday night. Darwin Nunez’s first-half goal was enough to secure another three points, although Liverpool needed big saves from Caoimhin Kelleher at the end to stay ahead as Leipzig caused them plenty of problems both early in the game and at the end.
The win sees Liverpool, alongside Aston Villa, become one of only two teams to have taken maximum points from their first three Champions League games in the new format. Gakpo stressed the importance of staying focused ahead of the next few matches in the group stage. “We started off very well, but there’s a few more matches in the group stage, so we’re not done yet and have to stay focused,” he said. “But it shows the good start we’ve had.”
Liverpool’s win marked a significant milestone, becoming the first team in history to win their first six away games of a season, as well as the first to have won 11 of their opening 12 games. The Reds began slowly in Germany, with Leipzig missing opportunities to take the lead before Nunez poked home in the 27th minute with Liverpool’s first meaningful attack.
From then on, Liverpool managed to hold possession but their failure to add to the score meant they were never entirely in control, with nervy moments late on as Leipzig pushed forward in search of an equaliser. Gakpo praised the team’s overall performance, saying, “I think we worked very hard. We chose good moments to counter-attack, also to attack, and I think we did very well. Sometimes we just kept the ball as well. I think it was overall a good performance.”
Gakpo also acknowledged the importance of the team’s defensive solidity, saying, “At the end, we defended well. We needed Caoimh (Kelleher) and the back line to save us, but that’s also a strength of ours now and we’re very happy with that… Obviously, you can play very well on the ball, but against a good opponent, you know there are moments in the game when maybe they have some good moments. It’s all about not conceding at those times and staying locked in – and I think that’s what we did well.”
Manager Arne Slot expressed confidence in Nunez, despite the striker’s slow start to the season, saying, “I’m always happy when we score a goal, and I’m not that much into who scores it. It’s always good to see all of our players scoring goals, and I think in the lead-up to the goal, Cody and Mo (Salah) were just as important in the goal as Darwin was.”
