Brighton & Hove Albion 2-3 Liverpool
Liverpool won the first game of a doubleheader against Brighton – they will return to the south coast to play Southampton in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Cody Gakpo bagged a second-half brace on either side of a save-of-the-season contender from Vitezslav Jaros.
Jarrell Quansah and Jaros were at fault when Simon Adingra halved the lead which Luis Diaz restored before Tariq Lamptey scored a 90th-minute consolation.
After Jaros had superbly denied Lamptey one-on-one, captain Andy Robertson crossed low to Dominik Szoboszlai who Jason Steele denied with his right shin before Diaz headed wide when trying to redirect the ball goalwards.
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A minute after half-time, Tyler Morton found Gakpo with a lofted pass down the left wing before the Dutchman arrowed the ball into the far top right corner to give The Reds the lead.
Despite the goal advantage, moments later the momentum swung massively as Robertson rushed out unsuccessfully before Lamptey crossed to Adingra whose header appeared destined to level the score before Jaros acrobatically tipped his header onto the post.
Far from in the ascendency, Diaz capitalised on a loose Lamptey touch to free Gakpo once again, albeit the forward played a poor pass to Szoboszlai, the Hungarian really could’ve done more with his attempted finish.
Not to be denied, just a short time later Gakpo took the initiative and drilled home at the near post in the 63rd minute to double the lead for Arne Slot’s side.
With nine minutes remaining, Jarell Quansah – who had impressed up until this moment – left Alexis Mac Allister short with a pass into midfield, Jaros parried a shot from Evan Ferguson but Adingra was first to react and converted the rebound.
Four minutes later, Liverpool were on the attack once more as Curtis Jones fired goalwards only for a deflected effort to be palmed away. Joel Veltman cleared the ball up not away and Diaz did the rest as he found space in the area and fired in off the near left post.
Seemingly done and dusted, there was still time for another goal and a nervy finish when the ever-involved Lamptey shot off balance with his left foot from outside the box and it deflected beyond the brilliant Jaros via a Quansah deflection, compounding a difficult end to the night for the youngster.
Player Ratings
XI: Vitezslav Jaros 9, Conor Bradley 6, Jarrell Quanash 6, Joe Gomez 7, Andy Robertson 7; Wataru Endo 6, Tyler Morton; 7, Luis Diaz 8, Dominik Szboszlai 7, Curtis Jones 6, Cody Gakpo 9
Subs: Alexis Mac Allister 6, Trey Nyoni 6, Mohamed Salah 6, Darwin Nunez 6, Ibrahima Konate N/A
