Soccer

Liverpool sit pretty at top of table after Girona win and Celtic draw in Zagreb

The Reds have won all six matches this term.

Mohamed Salah held his nerve from 12 yards
Mohamed Salah held his nerve from 12 yards (Liam McBurney/PA)

Mohamed Salah’s 16th goal of the season extended Liverpool’s perfect Champions League record as they won 1-0 at Girona to claim a sixth victory out of six.

Salah nervelessly converted a 63rd-minute penalty after French referee Benoit Bastien had been advised to take another look at Donny van de Beek’s clumsy challenge on Luis Diaz, sending keeper Paulo Gazzaniga the wrong way from the spot to finally break the deadlock.

In the process, he became just the 11th man to score 50 goals in the competition on a night when victory at the Estadi Montilivi meant the six-time European champions will enter 2025 sitting proudly at the top of the table.

Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel kept Celtic’s qualification dream on track with a vital late save in a 0-0 draw at Dinamo Zagreb.

The Hoops had the better of a drab first half at the Stadion Maksimir, but it took Schmeichel’s intervention to keep out Marko Pjaca’s close-range 80th-minute header as the game came to life after the break.