Wirtz Dazzles as Salah Sparks Storm in Liverpool’s Frankfurt Win

Florian Wirtz’s two assists helped Liverpool crush Eintracht Frankfurt as Mo Salah snub sparks flashpoint.

Arne Slot’s side ended a four-match losing run with a rampant Champions League win, but a late decision by Mohamed Salah not to square for Florian Wirtz became the night’s talking point.

Liverpool roared back from an early deficit to win 5-1 in Germany, with Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai on the scoresheet. The performance eased pressure on Slot after a difficult fortnight and offered the clearest glimpse yet of Wirtz’s growing influence, the German creator supplying two second-half assists on his return home.

Salah, left out of the starting XI amid a barren spell, entered after the break and drew headlines for electing to shoot rather than tee up Wirtz for a tap-in.

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Selection shock pays off as Wirtz delivers

Slot’s big call to bench Salah set the tone. Liverpool were brighter between the lines, with Wirtz drifting inside to connect midfield and attack.

After Frankfurt’s opener, Ekitike levelled and set-pieces swung the tie, van Dijk and Konaté powering in headers before the interval.

The second half belonged to Wirtz. First he slipped Gakpo through to finish, then timed another incisive pass for Szoboszlai to cap the rout.

The German’s output answered the noise around his slow start to life at Anfield and hinted at a partnership profile that can coexist with Salah once rhythm returns. “I know that I can do much, much more,” Wirtz said post-match, keen to keep a lid on the hype while acknowledging a personal step forward.

“I know that I can do much, much more… I tried to get into better spaces during the second half.”

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The pass that wasn’t: optics, egos and the next step

The late breakaway, with Salah opting to shoot rather than square to Wirtz eight yards out, will fuel familiar narratives about forwards and decision-making.

In isolation it was a heat-of-the-moment choice from a player desperate to snap a dry spell; in the round it changes little about a night defined by control, set-piece threat and Wirtz’s creativity. For Slot, the task is to bottle the fluency seen here while reintegrating Salah’s end product.

If Liverpool sustain Wirtz as a central connector and keep the aerial punch that undid Frankfurt, the conversation should quickly shift from flashpoints to momentum, with Real Madrid looming next in Europe.