Mo Salah eases nerves on flat European night at Anfield

Mohamed Salah's timely late intervention made sure of a victorious return of the Champions League to Anfield as Liverpool beat Bologna 2-0.

Alexis Mac Allister’s first goal in Europe’s elite club competition gave the Reds an 11th-minute lead against the debutants, but the night was far from straightforward for the hosts.

However, for the ninth time in as many Champions League appearances, Salah scored to ease the anxiety with 15 minutes left.

It was the 49th Champions League goal in total for the 32-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season, and his sixth in four appearances against the Serie A side.

The goal secured a club record for new head coach Arne Slot, who became the first Reds boss to win eight of his first nine matches in charge.

Liverpool are one of only seven teams in the 36-team competition with a 100 percent record but this was a hard-won victory as Bologna were not overawed by their first trip to Anfield and from the off committed five men to a high press.

That caused some problems for the hosts, although when striker Thijs Dallinga put the ball in the net he had strayed well offside long before he beat Alisson Becker.

Even after Liverpool took an early lead they found it difficult to play their way out from the back and had it not been for Alisson and the frame of the goal they would have been in more trouble.

But the goal itself was a prime example of the way Slot, who had urged his side to show the Champions League what it had missed after spending last season in the Europa League, wants to play.

From deep Mac Allister exchanged passes with Dominik Szoboszlai and played a clever pass into Darwin Nunez on the edge of the D, with the Uruguay international showing an awareness lacking for most of