Marseille 0-3 Liverpool: Slot´s side up to fourth with commanding win

Liverpool climbed into a top-eight spot in the Champions League standings thanks to a commanding 3-0 win against Marseille at the Stade Velodrome on Wednesday.

Dominik Szoboszlai’s clever free-kick and Cody Gakpo’s tidy finish, either side of Geronimo Rulli own goal, earned the win for Arne Slot’s side.

The victory propels the Reds from 11th to fourth, while Marseille are 19th and clinging onto a play-off spot heading into next week’s final round of fixtures.

Mohamed Salah went close to scoring in the first half with a flicked effort on his first Liverpool appearance since mid-December, having spent a month away on Africa Cup of Nations duty, which followed on from his public spat with Slot earlier in December.

That came after Hugo Ekitike had a goal rightly ruled out for offside following a VAR check, while Liverpool also had a penalty appeal rejected when the ball struck Geoffrey Kondogbia high up on his arm.

However, Liverpool went ahead in first-half stoppage time as Szoboszlai sent a low free-kick through the heart of a poorly positioned Marseille wall and away from Rulli.

Szoboszlai turned provider just before the hour mark to play in Ekitike, whose first-time strike crashed against the crossbar, which in turn sparked a Marseille attack that ended with Hamed Traore blazing over from a good position.

Liverpool gave themselves some breathing space 18 minutes from time as Jeremie Frimpong’s cross, after some impressive play to get to the byline, took a deflection before going in off Rulli.

Salah wasted a glorious chance to score on his return to the side, but substitute Gakpo made no such mistake in added time as he took a touch and calmly converted past Rulli to put the icing on a commanding away display.

Szobo pic.twitter.com/9a41cCdmZq

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 21, 2026

Data Debrief: Rulli makes unwanted history as Liverpool get job done

Szoboszlai’s goal shortly before half-time – from the visitors’ first on-target attempt of the game – makes him the first Liverpool player to score multiple free-kicks in a single season since Trent Alexander-Arnold in 2022-23 (also two).

That was added to by the unfortunate Rulli, as he became the first goalkeeper ever to score an own goal against Liverpool in the Champions League, before Gakpo’s second European goal of the campaign.

Liverpool registered just three shots on target en route to a fourth successive win against Marseille in this competition, ending with an expected goals (xG) tally of 1.49.

Marseille finished with an xG of 0.88, meanwhile, on what was a disappointing display from Roberto De Zerbi’s men, who fell well short of registering a third successive win in the competition for the first time since December 2010.