Liverpool produced a polished European away performance to beat Marseille 3-0 at the Stade Velodrome and climb to fourth in the Champions League table, putting themselves in a strong position to finish in the automatic top-eight places and avoid the play-offs.
A clever Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick in first-half stoppage time, an own goal forced by Jeremie Frimpong and a stoppage-time strike from substitute Cody Gakpo gave Arne Slot's side a deserved win on the night Mohamed Salah returned to the starting line-up for the first time since November.
Salah back as Slot trusts the diamond
Slot again deployed the midfield diamond that had worked at Inter Milan, this time with a place restored for Salah, who was straight back in following his return from the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt. Florian Wirtz and Szoboszlai operated behind Hugo Ekitike and Salah in a 4-2-2-2.