Liverpool fans have had precious little to cheer in recent weeks, but they’ll have enjoyed the sight of a former Everton striker netting a stoppage-time winner this afternoon to boost the Reds’ chances of Champions League qualification.
Arne Slot’s team missed the chance to finish the job themselves as they lost 4-2 away to Aston Villa on Friday night, with the home side instead guaranteeing their place in Europe’s main club competition.
It left the Merseysiders open to being overtaken in fifth place by Bournemouth and Brighton, but only one of those can now catch LFC after Sunday’s Premier League action.
The Seagulls began the day six points behind Liverpool, needing to win their final two fixtures and hope for the Reds to lose at home to Brentford next Sunday.
Despite having the lion’s share of attempts (19-7) and possession (66%), Fabian Hurzeler’s side were undone by a 96th-minute winner from Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who capitalised on a mistake by Jan-Paul van Hecke.
Only Bournemouth can usurp Liverpool for fifth place now, and the Cherries need to wipe out a four-point gap with just matches to play, the first of which is against a Manchester City side still fighting to win the Premier League when they go to the Vitality Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Reds should’ve secured their Champions League status long before now, but at least their destiny remains in their own hands, even if they’ve recently seemed intent on opening the door and rolling out the red carpet for the chasing pack to gatecrash the top five.
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That Calvert-Lewin was the man to put Brighton to the sword and do us a substantial favour will feel all the sweeter, especially when the England international has often been the scourge of LFC in the past.
He netted a late equaliser in a 2-2 Merseyside derby draw in October 2020 (the day that Jordan Pickford inflicted an ACL injury on Virgil van Dijk), put pay to any lingering hopes of a second league title win for Jurgen Klopp by scoring in a 2-0 Everton win in April 2024, and bagged Leeds’ first goal in the crazy 3-3 draw against Liverpool earlier this season.
His stoppage-time winner today may just have helped to clear a path for the Reds towards ultimately qualifying for the Champions League, even though the journey towards that destination has been far more complicated than we’d have liked.
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It’s a sad say when Liverpool Football Club are relying on Brighton & Bournemouth to drop points.
Mate, same sentiments. When they keep posting we need xx points to secure ucl, I have already deemed the season as failure. We are a club fighting for titles and trophies and not qualification to ucl.
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