Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the season in the Europa League away to Toulouse. With Thijs Dallinga’s goal, the French team won 3-2 against the leaders of Group E.
Falling 3-1 down in the second half, Liverpool looked like they would come back to 3-3, but when you look at the pictures, the tie was broken due to a handball in extra time.
Two weeks ago, Liverpool were too strong for number 14 in the French league, thrashing 5-1 at Anfield. Liverpool would have already secured their place in the Europa League by winning in Toulouse.
No Van Dijk and Gravenberch
Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp did not send his strongest starting 11 to the field in the south of France. Virgil van Dijk (illness) and Ryan Gravenberch (mild knee injury) did not get on the scoresheet. Cody Gakpo was the only Dutchman in Liverpool’s starting XI.
Luis Díaz also started the match after receiving good news about his father before the match. He had been kidnapped by a guerrilla movement in Colombia since October 28 but was released.
After more than half an hour of play, Toulouse took the lead after Aron Donnum punished Konstantinos Tsimikas for a careless turnover.
Dallinga increased the score to 2-0 in the second half. The 23-year-old Dutch striker received the ball well in the penalty area and shot over the inside post after the turn. The former Excelsior player also scored against Liverpool at Anfield two weeks ago.
Liverpool made it 2-1 with an unfortunate own goal, but soon after Toulouse appeared to have delivered the final blow with a goal from Frank Magri. With two minutes left, Liverpool increased the score to 3-2 with a goal scored by Diogo Jota, who had recently replaced Díaz. Later in stoppage time it looked like the visitors had even secured a draw, but VAR intervened as Alexis Mac Allister took possession of the ball.
With this win, Toulouse rose to second place in Group E, behind Liverpool.
In Group G, Slavia Prague created a surprise by beating last year’s Europa League finalist AS Roma 2-0. Romelu Lukaku failed to score in a Europa League match for the first time in nine years. The Belgian player has always played accurately in the last 14 matches.
Thanks to this win, the Prague team is at the top of the group, but after four matches, both teams have 9 points.
Frimpong continues on his way with Leverkusen
Jeremie Frimpong reached the qualifying round of the Europa League with Bayer Leverkusen. The Dutch international, who made his debut against France in October, saw his teammate Victor Boniface score the winning goal against Qarabag FK in extra time: 0-1.
With the late victory in Azerbaijan, Leverkusen achieved its fourth consecutive victory in Group H. Frimpong entered the game more than an hour later, replacing Leverkusen, which was also the leader in Germany.
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
