Harvey Elliott’s first Champions League goal in over two years secured a seventh successive Champions League victory but the guarantee of top spot was frustratingly denied them by a late Barcelona goal in Lisbon.

A 2-1 victory looked to have done the job with a game to spare only for the second-placed Catalans to beat Benfica 5-4 with a goal in the sixth minute of added time to ensure the race for first place will go to the final fixture.

While Mohamed Salah reached another landmark with his 50th European goal it needed 21-year-old substitute Elliott to provide the decisive strike after the Reds’ defence was breached for the first time in a minute short of 10 hours in the competition.

A last-16 spot is now secured but head coach Arne Slot would have liked to have returned to his Netherlands homeland to face PSV Eindhoven next week with top spot safe to give him the option of resting players.

Aissa Mandi’s 59th-minute dismissal for a second bookable offence should have made the evening more comfortable but moments later Jonathan David scored with Lille’s only shot on target.

However, unlike at Brentford at the weekend, Liverpool did not require any added-time heroics on this occasion as Elliott smashed home a half-cleared corner with the aid of a deflection off Ngal-Ayel Mukau.

There was little of the drama of Darwin Nunez’s late show on Saturday as this was another economical and efficient European performance lit up by a few moments of quality against brave opponents who arrived at Anfield on a 21-game unbeaten run.

The first came in the 34th minute when Curtis Jones’ pass from 15 yards inside his own half released Salah, who with only goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier to beat took his shot early and found the back of the net.

When the clock ticked on two more minutes Liverpool set a new club record for most minutes without conceding a European goal, beating the 572 set under Rafael Benitez in the 2005-06 season.

The only other goal they had let in came three minutes into their first group game against AC Milan in September.

Lille would have seen three of Liverpool’s back four – Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah and Kostas Tsimikas – were not regulars and may have fancied adding their hosts’ scalp to those of Real and Atletico Madrid, and Gabriel Gudmundsson fired wide after just 38 seconds having beaten Bradley down Liverpool’s right.

But the rest of the home team, with the exception of the rested Alexis Mac Allister, was full-strength and Salah posed a threat early on before clinically taking his chance.

Jones missed his tackle on David in front of the technical area but recovered the ball when Tsimikas pressured the striker. He sent Salah racing away and his team-mate duly delivered.

The Egyptian should have doubled his side’s lead when a superb touch brought Dominik Szoboszlai’s raking long diagonal pass under control but he pushed his shot wide of the far post.

Elliott and Mac Allister came on for the second half, with Jones seemingly carrying a groin problem.

Both played their parts but Elliott’s was vital after David squeezed a shot between Tsimikas and Virgil van Dijk, after Hakon Arnar Haraldson’s initial effort was blocked, ending Liverpool’s defensive resilience at nine hours and 59 minutes.

When a corner was only partially cleared Elliott, on the edge of the penalty area, smashed home first time with the touch off Mukau wrong-footing the goalkeeper.

Nunez tapped home a rebound in the 90th minute only to be flagged offside but Liverpool now head to Eindhoven with a 100 per cent record to maintain as they target the club record nine successive European wins set in October 1984.