A scintillating attacking performance from Liverpool saw them demolish Spartak Moscow 7-0 at Anfield and seal their passage into the Round of 16 as group winners.

Philippe Coutinho scored his first ever LFC hat trick, with Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah also on the scoresheet as the Reds qualified top of Group E. For Spartak, it was an evening to forget, much like their last trip to Anfield back in 2002, when they had lost 5-0.

The result also means 5 of the 16 teams in the knockout stages will be English (effectively one third). Four English teams finished as winners of their respective groups, with the solitary exception behind Chelsea, who qualified as runners up in their group behind Roma.

Liverpool’s potential Round of 16 opponents are therefore Basel, Real Madrid, Shakhtar, Bayern, Juventus or Porto (they can’t get Chelsea because teams from the same country cannot meet in the Round of 16) Continue reading →

Ahead of Spartak Moscow’s visit to Anfield tonight, let’s look at the last time Liverpool faced the Russian outfit at home. That game was back in the 2002/03 Champions League season, and the Reds won 5-0 thanks to a brace from Emile Heskey, who scored the first and last goals of the game.

The other scorers that evening were Bruno Cheyrou, Sami Hyypia and Salif Diago

40,812 were in attendance that evening (October 2, 2002) to watch Liverpool demolish Spartak Continue reading →