Liverpool cement Champions League contenders status by making Bayer Leverkusen crumble at Anfield

Liverpool scored four goals in the second half to win their fourth successive Champions League game

In a battle of two rising managerial stars, Arne Slot came out on top on Tuesday as Liverpool cruised to a 4-0 victory over Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen, extending his near-perfect start to life as the Reds' manager and putting the rest of Europe on notice. 

At first, the game was a slow burn. Neither side had more than one shot on target through the first 42 minutes, and neither side was close to reaching one expected goal by the halftime break. The game state arguably favored Alonso – the defensive tone of the first half was not a surprise for Slot's defensively steady Liverpool, but Leverkusen have been porous at the back in Bundesliga play this season. Limiting Liverpool's attack to 0.64 expected goals after nine shots would mark a major statement, especially as Leverkusen map out their follow-up act to last season's historic double-winning season.

In the end, though, it was Slot and Liverpool who came out of the game with a statement of their own.