Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool FC surprisingly suffered their first Europa League defeat of the season on what was actually a pleasant day and missed out on early progression and group victory. After three wins from three games, the favored “Reds” lost 2:3 (0:1) in Group E at FC Toulouse.
The day was good for Liverpool because the father of Colombian Luiz Díaz was released after being kidnapped twelve days ago. Even though Díaz was in Klopp’s starting line-up, Toulouse played more forcefully; the French scored through Aron Dönnum (36th), Thijs Dallinga (58th) and Frank Magri (76th). Thanks to an own goal from Cristian Casseres (74th) and Diogo Jota, who came on for Díaz (89th), the guests shortened the score twice and presumably equalized deep into stoppage time. But according to video evidence (90th + 11th), the equalizer was canceled.
However, things went better for national player Pascal Groß. In Group B, the 32-year-old won 2-0 (1-0) with Brighton & Hove Albion at crisis-ridden Ajax Amsterdam and is on course for the knockout round with seven points from four games.
Freiburg’s group opponents West Ham United, where national player Thilo Kehrer was unused, narrowly but deservedly beat Olympiacos Piraeus 1-0 (0-0). Leverkusen’s group opponents Molde FK were also victorious, the 3-1 (2-0) in the Scandinavian duel at BK Häcken prevented the Werkself from winning the group early.
Marc Heinrich, Helsinki Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 Published/Updated: Published/Updated:
Like Liverpool, AS Roma under coach Jose Mourinho also missed out on early group victory. The previous season’s finalist lost 0-2 (0-0) against Slavia Prague and had to cede the lead in Group G to the Czechs.
