Liverpool’s hopes of retaining the Carabao Cup were dealt a huge blow after losing 1-0 at Tottenham in the first leg of their semi-final.
Arne Slot’s men were unable to produce a strong response to Sunday’s surprise draw with Manchester United and have it all to do in the return fixture at Anfield early next month.
Wednesday night’s encounter was a far cry from the Reds’ 6-3 win at this ground a couple of weeks ago, with Ange Postecoglou’s side much improved on this occasion.
Though Liverpool came into the game as clear favourites, the first major chance went the way of Tottenham. A corner from Dejan Kulusevski curled all the way to Son Heung-min at the back edge of the box, and though his shot was skewed, the ball was turned towards goal by Radu Dragusin, forcing Alisson into an impressive save low to his right. This was immediately followed by eight minutes of medical treatment for Rodrigo Bentancur, who went down off the ball and appeared to lose consciousness.
Spurs then went close when Son scampered past Conor Bradley and drilled a cross to the near post, but Dominic Solanke could only flick the delivery onto his own shin and the ball bobbled behind. Liverpool soon had their first sight of goal soon after, with Mohamed Salah dragging an effort wide from 20 yards.
After the break, the hosts ought to have gone in front. Alisson was caught in possession twice by Lucas Bergvall, with his kick landing at the feet of Pedro Porro. The Spaniard’s initial shot was blocked by Virgil van Dijk, before he spooned the second wide to the disbelief of the entire ground.
It was Liverpool’s turn to go extremely close next when substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot was cleared off the line by Dragusin, with Alexis Mac Allister turning the rebound wide.
With 15 minutes remaining, it appeared to be Spurs who broke the deadlock. Porro’s pass round the back of the Liverpool defence found Solanke sprinting in behind, and he coolly slotted under Alisson. However, after a lengthy VAR check, Solanke was deemed offside, with the decision announced over the intercom by referee Stuart Attwell in a first for English football.
But with their next attack, Spurs indeed went ahead. Porro again opened up Liverpool with a through ball for Solanke to chase, and he in turn found Bergvall – who was controversially not shown a second yellow card for a foul on Kostas Tsimikas seconds earlier – to sweep past Alisson and send the home fans into delirium.
Seven minutes were added at the end of the 90, during which Darwin Nunez brought a tremendous save out of Tottenham debutant Antonin Kinsky, getting down to the right to claw the Uruguayan’s shot away, and that was as close as Liverpool came to a crucial equaliser.
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