Brighton 2-1 Liverpool (Dunk 39′, Mitoma 90+2′ | Elliott 30′)
Revenge was the word of the day at the Amex Stadium just 15 days after Liverpool’s Premier League defeat at Brighton, but ultimately the FA Cup holders crashed out after Kaoru Mitoma’s injury-time winner.
Harvey Elliott had given the visitors the lead on 30 minutes, but Brighton were level by half-time after Lewis Dunk unintentionally – although he may say otherwise – turned in teammate Tariq Lamptey’s shot.
With a replay seemingly minutes away, Mitoma then did superbly to leave Joe Gomez in a spin and rifle home from close range late on. Brighton march on, while another trophy evades Liverpool this season.
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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made one change from last weekend’s 0-0 draw against Chelsea, with Trent Alexander-Arnold returning, while it was four changes from the starting XI that lost at Brighton a fortnight ago.
Meanwhile, Brighton made four changes, with Moises Caicedo absent after the club rejected a bid from Arsenal for the midfielder, who revealed his desire to leave on social media and “bring in a record transfer fee” for the Seagulls.
“Moises is a good guy, we will see tomorrow and the next days what happens,” Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi told ITV before the match.
“We hope he stays with us until the end of the season. In life you can make mistakes. For everyone there are many solutions. We will see the best solution for him and for us.”
An end-to-end encounter unfolded in the first half, with the hosts out to test this Liverpool defence early on, while Mohamed Salah was looking sharp down the other end.
The clearest chance in the opening 15 minutes fell to Evan Ferguson, though, with Alexander-Arnold on hand to make the crucial goalline clearance with Alisson Becker well beaten.
Brighton vs Liverpool player ratings
Brighton: Steele 6; Lamptey 7, Dunk 7, Webster 6, Estupinan 6; March 6, Gross 6, Mac Allister 7, Mitoma 8; Ferguson 6, Welbeck 6. Subs: Veltman 6, Gilmour 6, Undav n/a.
Liverpool: Alisson 6, Alexander-Arnold 6, Konate 7, Gomez 6, Robertson 6, Bajcetic 6, Thiago 6, Keita 5, Elliott 7, Salah 7, Gakpo 6. Subs: Henderson 6, Milner 6, Nunez 6, Jones 6, Fabinho n/a.
Salah was then guilty of missing a one-on-one after Elliott’s fine through ball, with the former trickling a shot wide, but when it was roles reversed the teenager made no mistake.
After Naby Keita’s handball went unpunished – with VAR not overturning the referee’s decision to play on – this time Salah picked out Elliott, whose effort snuck under Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele.
The lead lasted all of nine minutes, with Lamptey’s long-range effort flicking off teammate Dunk, who was standing just inside the penalty area, and wrongfooting Alisson.
Both Lamptey and Dunk wheeled off in celebration, but the goal was awarded to the latter as ITV co-commentator Ally McCoist deliberated over whether the defender had meant this goalscoring touch.
After the break, Kaoru Mitoma emerged as the most threatening player, with the Japan international almost sneaking behind Alexander-Arnold when a cross came in.
Mitoma continued to look dangerous down the left, while Alexander-Arnold was left perplexed when both Salah and Cody Gakpo attacked one of his crosses and got in each other’s way.
Alexander-Arnold looked even more perplexed when his number was put up, with James Milner replacing him at right-back just before the hour-mark as Darwin Nunez and Jordan Henderson were also introduced in a triple substitution.
Milner then channelled his inner Alexander-Arnold with a fine cross from deep for Salah, who was unable to get a shot away despite finding himself a yard of space inside the Brighton area.
Dunk then earned one of the more blatant yellow cards of the season when pulling the shirt of Gakpo, who was hoping to break the final line of Brighton’s defence after a lung-busting run.
It was a sign that Liverpool were back on top after the substitutions, but was typical of this topsy-turvy match it was Brighton who went closest next when Mitoma’s outside-of-the-boot cross found Solly March, whose shot was saved by Alisson before the rebound went wide.
A contentious moment saw Ibrahima Konate barge into Alexis Mac Allister as the final man for Liverpool, but referee David Coote saw no wrongdoing, while VAR could not intervene as the incident occurred outside the area.
At the death, it was Mitoma who popped up with the winner, leaving Liverpool stunned but ultimately scoring the goal his performance deserved.
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