Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday night at Anfield. The result means that the two sides will lock horns yet again in a replay that would determine who advances to the fourth round of the competition.
Wolves took the lead in the 26th minute after a howler from Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker who, trying to play out from the back passed it straight to Goncalo Guedes. The 26-year-old striker took full advantage by slotting home much to the delight of the traveling side.
Wolves were the better of the two sides in the first half but failed to make their dominance count as Liverpool restored parity on the stroke of half time.
Trent Alexander Arnold played in a brilliant, lofted ball from the right flank which was emphatically slotted home by Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan striker judged the flight of the ball to perfection and timed his one-touch finish past Matija Sarkic in the Wolves goal.
Liverpool came out the better of the two sides after the break and took the lead in the 52nd minute following an error from Wolves defender Toti Gomes who got his header all wrong trying to clear Alexander-Arnold’s cross. Mohammed Salah pounced on the ball, adjusted his feet and slotted home much to the delight of the Anfield faithful.
Wolves should have made it two all in the 58th minute when Rayan Ait Nouri was through on goal, but Alisson redeemed himself by blocking the shot on goal. Nunez had a couple of opportunities to put the game beyond Wolves, but the traveling side determined great resiliency by restoring parity in the 66th minutes.
Substitute Hwang Hee-chan tucked his shot beyond Alisson from close range after playing a one-two with Matheus Cunha to stun Liverpool on the night. Julen Lopetegui’s side must have thought that they had got the winner when Gomes scored in the 82nd minute, but VAR ruled the goal due to offside in the build-up. Both sides went in search of the winning goal, but it wasn’t to be as the game ended all square and a replay would be required to determine which side will go through.
On the result, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said, “I think it was a good dominant start with really good football moments and then we conceded. The goal should not happen. We came back with a fantastic equalizer, everything is clear. Then again it is dominant performance until they get a little bit of foot in the game and we don’t put in enough challenges. It is then really difficult and they caused us problems. We scored a second goal, fine, but we had problems.”
Photo: IMAGO / Propaganda Photo
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