Within six days in 2022, JURGEN KLOPP’s hopes of achieving an unprecedented quadruple were shattered.
It seems like Liverpool’s attempt to win all three titles in as little as four days has failed.
It was a really disheartening day for Liverpool.
Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze scored in the fourteenth minute.
Eze neatly finished off a play that he had skillfully completed.
After suffering a devastating defeat, Jurgen Klopp was understandably upset.
Once again, Liverpool’s performance was below par.
Liverpool were unable to score despite having numerous scoring opportunities.
Even though they had more scoring chances in the second half, Liverpool were unable to take advantage of them.
Barring a miraculous turn of events, Liverpool will not be participating in next month’s Europa League final in Dublin after losing the first leg of their quarterfinal match against Atalanta 3-0 on Thursday.
Now, Eberechi Eze scored a shocking goal in the 14th minute to give Palace the win, which will be celebrated by fans of Manchester City and Arsenal.
Despite being undefeated at home in the league coming into the game, Liverpool were no match for a Palace side that put up a fight.
These awful days bring back memories of two years ago, when the Reds won the domestic cups but were almost defeated by Manchester City on the last day. They also lost the Champions League final in Paris to Real Madrid.
Just like they did the week prior against Manchester United, Liverpool lost because they wasted opportunities.
Also, Adam Wharton and Will Hughes stood out in the middle of the field for Palace, and the defense five did a fantastic job overall.
It was terrifying how Liverpool ended.
Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, and Curtis Jones all squandered chances in the second half, while Jean-Philippe Mateta should have put Palace ahead 2-0.
Special Casino Offers—The Finest New Player Bonuses
Numerous scoring opportunities were squandered by Liverpool.
Palace, under Oliver Glasner’s leadership, won the match convincingly.
Another setback for Liverpool came when Conor Bradley also left the game due to injury.
Liverpool stayed inside Palace’s half for the whole of the match.
At the same time, Mo Salah’s inability to capitalize on a golden opportunity in stoppage time added to the mounting evidence that he has changed drastically since his injury return.
With just one win out of nine games, Oliver Glasner’s squad has gone winless for five straight.
Run the movie.
The next five matches for Liverpool in all competitions
So it’s fair to assume that not many Palace fans who traveled to the North-West expected such a crucial victory, which has significantly alleviated their relegation fears.
There was a minute of silence before the game to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough catastrophe.
Alisson, who had missed the previous 15 games due to a hamstring injury, returned in place of Caoimhin Kelleher.
However, the Reds’ woes began with a bad pass from Alisson, which Robertson kicked away for a throw.
Palace maintained control with a fantastic 21-pass move that took the ball from the right to the left and ended with Tyrick Mitchell cutting it back to Eze.
The marking in the back was poor, and there was a lot of space between Alisson and Virgil van Dijk, giving Eze an easy chance to score with a first-time shot.
Klopp grimaced as he watched the goal, which comes as no surprise.
Anfield was left in silence, and things could have become far worse.
Van Dijk made a slip reminiscent of Steven Gerrard’s historic error against Chelsea a decade ago.
And the Dutchman was grateful that Andy Robertson rushed back to make a fantastic goal-line block to save Mateta’s attempt.
Robertson was Liverpool’s finest player, and one of his corners resulted in Wataru Endo’s shot hitting the crossbar.
The Scottish international then provided another superb cross, allowing Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson to wonderfully flick over Luis Diaz’s soaring shot.
At halftime, Klopp replaced the hapless Endo with Dominik Szoboszlai, and shortly into the second half, he was forced to give Trent Alexander-Arnold his long-awaited debut owing to an injury to Conor Bradley.
You knew it wasn’t Liverpool’s day when Nunez blasted a shot straight at Henderson and failed to score.
With Henderson out, Jota appeared set to score, but his shot was stopped by Nathaniel Clyne.
Mateta also puzzled how he missed a 2-0 lead after Alisson denied him from a couple of yards away.
Jones blazed wide, and Salah should have scored but Mitchell stopped his shot.
Finally, all you had to do was look at Klopp’s and the players’ faces to see that they knew they had shot themselves in the foot.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s return to the squad ended in dismay.
