On Tuesday at Anfield, Liverpool secured their place in the Champions League round of 16 by defeating 10 - man Lille 2-1. Talisman Mohamed Salah and substitute Harvey Elliott found the back of the net for the Reds.

Arne Slot's team has maintained an unblemished record. They are leading the 36 - team table with 21 points. With just one game left in the league phase, they are three points ahead of second - placed Barcelona.

Salah netted his 50th European goal for Liverpool in the 34th minute when he sprinted onto a long pass from Curtis Jones after Kostas Tsimikas won the ball inside Liverpool's half, and then curled a shot around goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.

"We got the ball and Curtis played the ball very well finally and I managed to score," Salah said.

Despite being reduced to 10 men when Aïssa Mandi was shown his second yellow card in the 59th minute for his tackle on Luis Díaz, Jonathan David levelled for the visitors three minutes later when he hammered home the loose ball after Hakon Arnar Haraldsson's shot was blocked.

The strike was David's fifth in the Champions League this season and only the second Liverpool had conceded, with the first coming in their opening game at AC Milan.

"Not switched off but they went to counter-attack and managed to score," Salah said. "The clean sheet is very important to us and our backline."

Liverpool quickly regained the lead when a corner was headed out to the edge of the box and Elliott fired a crisp shot that took a wild deflection into the net in the 67th minute.

Darwin Núñez celebrated what he thought was Liverpool's third goal just before added time, but it was ruled out for offside.

Lille showed why they are unbeaten in 21 successive games in all competitions inside the opening minute on Tuesday when Gabriel Gudmundsson's shot from outside of the box sailed just wide of the net.

Salah squandered several terrific chances. He could not quite connect with Diaz's square ball in the first half, and then had only the keeper to beat in the 44th minute but shot wide of the post.

Liverpool travel to PSV Eindhoven for their final match of the league phase on Jan. 29, while Lille host Feyenoord.