Jürgen Klopp and his Liverpool FC have said goodbye to the English FA Cup prematurely. The defending champion gave up a lead at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday and lost 1-2 (1-1) after conceding a goal in added time. The Japanese Kaoru Mitoma (90th + 2 minutes) scored the winning goal for the hosts in the fourth round of the cup.
“It doesn’t feel good,” Klopp told BBC Radio 5 Live. “As time goes by, maybe we can see some positives in that, but we wanted to get to the next round. Congratulations to Brighton.”
Harvey Elliott (30th) had initially given Liverpool the lead in the overall balanced game. Brighton, who are currently two points and three places ahead of the “Reds” in the Premier League table, equalized through Lewis Dunk (39th).
“Made a Better Game”
Brighton have not been a pleasant opponent for Liverpool this season. Two weeks earlier, the Reds had suffered a bitter 3-0 defeat in the league game there. “We came here after a game a few weeks ago where we weren’t even remotely ourselves,” said Klopp. “Today we played a better game, but we conceded two goals from set pieces and that’s not possible at all.”
In addition to Brighton, Manchester City (1-0 against FC Arsenal), Leicester City (1-0 against FC Walsall), Leeds United (3-1 at Accrington Stanley), Tottenham Hotspur (3-0 at Preston North End) and Manchester United (3-1 v Reading FC).
