The rest of the Premier League take note: Liverpool may have spent almost £300m on new players this summer but that doesn’t make them unbeatable.
Goals from Hugo Ekitiké and Jeremie Frimpong and an impressive performance from Florian Wirtz had looked like being enough to seal a narrow victory over Crystal Palace in the Community Shield as Arne Slot’s summer signings made an instant impact for the reigning Premier League champions. But even with the possibility that they could still add Alexander Isak to the array of attacking talent already on the books, Oliver Glasner’s well-drilled side showed that their new-look defence is fallible and Palace deserved to take this game to penalties after an equalising for the second time of the afternoon thanks to Ismaïla Sarr.
It was left to the substitute Justin Devenny to seal victory for the south London club after Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott all missed in the shootout. For the FA Cup winners, who contested this occasion for the first time in their history, it was another moment to savour as they await the outcome of their appeal to the court of arbitration for sport against their demotion from the Europa League, which is due to be announced on Monday. But having seen Frimpong and fellow new signing Milos Kerkez struggle to contain Sarr and the outstanding Eberechi Eze at times, Liverpool may decide to step up their attempts to sign the Palace captain, Marc Guéhi, who left the field with cramp after another all-action display.
It has been a summer of contrasts for these two clubs since they gave each other a guard of honour at Anfield back in May. While Slot was able to name Ekitiké, Frimpong, Kerkez and Wirtz, whose fee could end up being record £116m, in his starting lineup, Glasner selected the same side that started against Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Plans for a repeat of the fantastic tifos that supporters’ group the Holmesdale Fanatics produced for the wins over City and Aston Villa in the semi-final had to be shelved due to new strict Wembley regulations. But there was still a sense of anticipation among those who made the journey from south London for the third time in three months. Liverpool’s fans behind the goal unveiled a banner in tribute to Diogo Jota before kick-off, with both teams observing a minute’s silence to the Portugal forward and his brother, André, that was interrupted by a small section in the Palace end.
Slot had confirmed that Ryan Gravenberch was unavailable after his partner gave birth on Saturday night, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones anchoring midfield. It didn’t take long for Liverpool’s new boys to make an impression as Wirtz and Ekitiké exchanged a one-two on the left-hand side of the Palace penalty area in the fourth minute before the Frenchman fired past Dean Henderson. Another clever touch from Ekitiké to play in Salah set up another…
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