Liverpool’s hopes of an FA Cup replay once morest Brighton were dashed when Japanese Kaoru Mitoma scored to give Amex a 2-1 victory in injury time.
Two weeks ago Brighton put Liverpool to shame with a 3-0 result at Amex. Despite knowing that Brighton is in good form, the sudden decline of The Kop this season makes fans who love the Merseyside team extremely disappointed.
Meeting Brighton once more in the FA Cup brings fear to Liverpool fans, certainly much more fear than the desire for revenge. In fact, Klopp’s army got bogged down in Amex and received a 1-2 loss. Of course, the defending FA Cup winners lost the match completely, because the home team played much better than the away team.
Elliott (left) competes with Lamptey (right) (Image: GI).
Brighton controlled the ball 56% of the time, launching 13 shots and 6 hits on target. With 44% of possession time, Liverpool only got 8 shots in the whole game, 2 times the ball hit the goal.
At the beginning of the match, the two teams played relatively evenly, there were not too many finishing opportunities created with both. Brighton nearly scored the opening goal in the 15th minute, Alexander-Arnold saved the visitors from losing by assisting goalkeeper Alisson to break the ball on the goal line, close to the left post.
30 minutes, Salah created a good assist for Elliott to cross from the left in the penalty area. The ball passed the Brighton goalkeeper and rolled into the left corner of the goal to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead.
Liverpool’s goal advantage lasted only 9 minutes. 39 minutes, Lamptey launched a shot from outside the penalty area. The ball hit Dunk’s foot and changed direction into the net, making Alisson unable to return, the goal was somewhat fortunate for the home team.
In the second half, only Brighton maintained the same tempo as the first half. Liverpool completely fell, the visitors only had one shot in the second half. Liverpool’s desire for an away draw, to replay at home, dissipated in the second minute of injury time.
Mitoma received the ball at a distance of regarding 5m, on the right. With an overhead kick to pass the opponent’s defender and then a shot with the outside of his right foot that made Alisson “stopped”, Mitoma scored to make it 2-1.
Mitoma celebrates following scoring (Image: GI).
Mitoma’s late goal made Liverpool unable to get up. The Kop received defeat at Amex and sadly bid farewell to the FA Cup.
Squad
Brighton (4-2-3-1): Steele 6.5; Lamptey 7 (Van Hecke, 90), Webster 6.5 (Veltman 46, 6), Dunk 8, Estupinan 6; Gross 7, Mac Allister 7; March 7.5, Welbeck 7 (Gilmour 66, 6.5), Mitoma 9; Ferguson 7 (Undav 89).
Liverpool (4-1-2-3): Alisson 6; Alexander-Arnold 5.5 (Milner 59, 5), Konate 6, Gomez 5.5, Robertson 6; Bajcetic 7 (Fabinho 84); Thiago 6.5 (Jones 79), Keita 5.5 (Henderson 59, 5.5); Salah 7, Gakpo 6.5, Elliott 7 (Nunez 59, 6).