Liverpool Shocked by Plymouth, Aston Villa Defeat Spurs in FA Cup

Photo : AFP

Liverpool had a big shock in the FA Cup on Sunday as they lost 1-0 to Plymouth, a team from a lower league. Aston Villa also won against Tottenham, beating them 2-1 and adding more pressure on Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou.

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Liverpool's coach, Arne Slot, decided to rest important players like Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, and Cody Gakpo. But this choice did not work well, and Plymouth took advantage. The only goal of the match came in the second half when Ryan Hardie scored from a penalty after Darko Gyabi’s shot hit Harvey Elliott’s hand.

Liverpool tried hard to score, but Plymouth’s goalkeeper, Conor Hazard, made some great saves in the final minutes. This defeat ended Liverpool’s dream of winning four trophies this season. It was also only the fourth time in history that the team on top of the Premier League was knocked out of the FA Cup by a lower-division club.

Slot accepted that Liverpool did not play well, saying, “We were not having a very good day. A result like this is the outcome.”

For Plymouth, this win was special, especially for their manager, Miron Muslic. He was born in Bosnia and had to leave his home as a child because of war. He moved to Austria and later became a football coach. Muslic became Plymouth’s manager in January, and his team has already beaten a Premier League club before in this FA Cup run.

In another FA Cup match, Tottenham lost 2-1 to Aston Villa. Spurs had a bad start as their goalkeeper, Antonin Kinsky, let Jacob Ramsey’s shot go past him in the first minute. Tottenham’s Son Heung-min had a great chance to score before halftime, but Villa’s goalkeeper stopped him. In the second half, Morgan Rogers scored again for Villa.

Villa gave a debut to Marcus Rashford, who joined them on loan, but it was another new player, Mathys Tel, who scored a late goal for Tottenham. However, it was too late to change the result.

Tottenham have not won a big trophy since 2008. They are now in 14th place in the Premier League and have only one tournament left to fight for. After the match, Postecoglou said, "Nothing changes. We will get some players back in the next few weeks and try to finish the season strong."

In another match, Wolves easily won 2-0 against Blackburn. Joao Gomes and Matheus Cunha scored within 39 seconds of each other to help Wolves move to the next round of the FA Cup.