Mohamed Salah's clipped finish and quickfire goals at the start of the second half from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott took Liverpool to a 3-0 win at Ajax which sends them into the Champions League last 16
The visitors should have been a couple of goals behind in Amsterdam by the time Salah (42) latched onto Jordan Henderson's outside-of-the-boot pass and finished first-time for his sixth strike in five Champions League games this term
Steven Berghuis had smacked a shot against the post just three minutes in and Dusan Tadic would have expected to score when his effort was blocked by Trent Alexander-Arnold
Liverpool had struggled to get up the pitch for most of that opening period but finished the half strongly and were kicking themselves for not going in two clear at the break when Nunez somehow hit the back post from Roberto Firmino's inviting pass
They were soon out of sight at the start of the second period, though, with Nunez (49) powerfully heading in from a corner to make up for that bad miss and Salah then feeding a pass through for Elliott (52) to smack home at the near post, as a three-minute blitz all-but ended the contest
 ensured they sit top of the pile in this group and are almost certain to win it but Liverpool's victory - in their 150th Champions League match - means they can now rest key players for their home game with the Italian side on Tuesday
 That will be welcomed by boss Jurgen Klopp, given the injuries he's currently dealing with
Liverpool made three changes from Saturday's defeat to Premier League bottom club Nottingham Forest and switched to a midfield diamond as they searched for a response to that setback - but they were extremely slow out of the blocks and looked set to go behind when Berghuis lined up his shot in the box from Brian Brobbey's lay-off moments after kick-off
Fortunately for Liverpool, the midfielder found the woodwork rather than the net but a blocked effort from Daley Blind followed and Berghuis shot wide before Edson Alvarez made Alisson work on his 200th appearance for the Reds as Ajax put the pressure on
There was something of a lull midway through the first half as Liverpool eventually took control of possession but struggled to do much with it against an enthusiastic Ajax press
 It wasn't until Alexander-Arnold got himself in the way of Tadic's shot on the break that the visitors finally came to life
Henderson's bent pass from the right was excellent and found the unmarked Salah in lots of space to steer the ball past Remko Pasveer
 The goalkeeper was again stranded when good work from Andy Robertson led to Firmino crossing low through the six-yard box for Nunez to wastefully tap against the back post in first-half stoppage time
It was a bad miss, a virtual open goal but the striker responded in the right manner and powered away from Jurrien Timber at the start of the second half to head in Robertson's corner
Whatever was said in Klopp's half-time team talk certainly worked as a lovely move moments later saw Elliott played in by Salah and his right-foot shot flashed past Pasveer to put the result beyond doubt
Inevitably the game drifted to a conclusion from that point, with Ajax only mustering off-target shots from Steven Bergwijn, Kenneth Taylor, Berghuis, Alvarez and Timber as they slipped towards the Europa League
 Rangers will need to better the 4-0 defeat they suffered against the Dutch side if they are to take Ajax's place in the second-tier tournament
Liverpool will need their own big win to leapfrog Napoli at the top of the standings after losing 4-1 in Italy but they will enjoy their final group game knowing their place in the Champions League knockouts is assured for a club-record sixth straight season under Klopp
 They will hope their season - just like this performance - recovers from a slow start
 speaking to "We had a tough half an hour where Ajax made a lot of pressure and we needed to defend with a lot of passion
 You have to get through these phases
 We changed system again a little bit to a diamond
 We thought it made sense because we didn't want to have Darwin always on the wing
"Then we scored a goal which was absolutely exceptional
 Second half we really had a good start, scored two wonderful goals and then controlled the game really well
 We are through to the knockout stages and I will never take that for granted
"He added in his press conference: "It's a big achievement in itself [qualifying]
 Ajax are a really good team and we beat them twice
 They looked much more settled than us
 That's normal, it's an away game in the Champions League, it's difficult, we came through that
 One situation where we were lucky, one where we had a good block
 Then you can see the goal, how that can open everything
 The goal was brilliant and the next situation was a sensational football moment
 Unfortunately we hit the post there
 Then we scored the two goals and controlled the game, which is really good
""Really good game, in both directions
 He played with a big heart today and I like that a lot
"on :"Darwin was really angry at himself at half-time for missing that chance
 I don't think he understood a word I said but I told him I'd put a cross on his head for him to score!"return to Premier League action on Saturday when they host , live on ; kick-off 7
45pm
 Their final Champions League group-stage fixture sees them host at Anfield on Tuesday November 1
do not have a domestic fixture this weekend, with their next game against at Ibrox on Tuesday in the Champions League
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