Sam VreeswijkOct 30, 2024, 10:42 PM
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024, 10:42 PM
Liverpool reached the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup on Wednesday evening. Thanks to Cody Gakpo, who scored twice, Arne Slot’s team was too strong for Brighton & Hove Albion with a score of 2-3.
The Dutch-tinged Brighton started with Jan Paul van Hecke, Mats Wieffer and Arnhem-born Ferdi Kadioglu in the starting line-up. Bart Verbruggen and Joël Veltman, who would come on as a substitute, started on the bench.
Gakpo was in the starting line-up for Liverpool. Virgil van Dijk was on the bench, while Ryan Gravenberch was completely missing from Slot’s selection.
Liverpool had most of their chances in the first half. Dominik Szoboszlai, Luis Díaz and Andrew Robertson, among others, were close to the opening goal, but partly due to goalkeeper Jason Steele, the score was still on the board at halftime.
With a beautiful bang in the far corner, Gakpo put the 0-1 on the board after forty seconds in the second half. Fifteen minutes later he also signed for the 0-2.
The Eindhove native himself won the ball on the left side of the field, covered a number of meters with the ball at his feet and then shot into the short corner. So Liverpool was on a roll.
Still, it became exciting when Simon Adingra scored from the rebound ten minutes before the end after an incorrect pass from Jarell Quansah: 1-2. Díaz then made it 1-3 with a good action followed by a shot in the short corner, after which Tariq Lamptey’s 2-3 (shot that changed direction) came too late for Brighton.
