Brighton Send Liverpool Out Of FA Cup

Liverpool suffered an embarrassing defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday in their FA Cup title challenge at American Express Community Stadium.

The Reds were trashed 2-1, thanks to a tremendous last-minute finish from Kaoru Mitoma to complement a first-half equalizer by Lewis Dunk.

Naija News reports that Liverpool’s central midfielder, Harvey Elliot opened the score line for the Sunday evening match after scoring in the 30th minute of the first half before Dunk equalized for the host.

Liverpool has been poor lately in their performances. The Reds won the 2022 FA Cup Final after beating Chelsea on penalties on 14 May 2022 at Wembley Stadium.

However, Liverpool currently sits ninth in the English Premier League with 21 points behind pacesetters Arsenal.

Their FA Cup exit leaves the Champions League as Liverpool’s only remaining shot at a trophy this season. Naija News recalls that Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, had weeks ago described his side’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton as the worst performance of his managerial career.

Pedri Helps Barcelona To Extend Their Lead By 6 Points

Meanwhile, Barcelona narrowly defeated Girona 1-0 on Saturday evening. Thanks to Pedri who came from the bench to score the winner in the 64th minute.

The lone goal from Pedri has pushed FC Barcelona’s lead over second-placed Real Madrid to 6 points. The 20-year-old, who was playing his 100th game for Barcelona in all competitions, tapped home from four yards after Paulo Gazzaniga, a Fulham loanee, misread Jordi Alba’s cross.

In the last moments of the second half, Girona substituted Michel when he complained about a foul committed by Barcelona player Frenkie de Jong, Naija News reports.

Despite the slim win, Barcelona’s attacking line was ineffective because of the absence of Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Spain’s Ferran Torres.

Ousmane Dembele of France also departed the game in the first half with what appeared to be a thigh injury.

Girona who recorded just two shots on target in the final seconds of regulation time are still in 12th position, four points above the relegation zone.

As it stands, FC Barcelona who are currently leaders of the Spanish La Liga with 47 points in 18 games, have recorded nine straight league wins so far this season.

Real Madrid will play Real Sociedad on Sunday at 20:00 GMT to make it 18 games apiece for the two Spanish giants so far this season.

Xavi’s club hasn’t lost in La Liga since falling to Real Madrid 3-1 on October 16 (winning eight and drawing one), and they haven’t lost in 13 games overall.

A big success would be to win La Liga this season under the tutelage of the Spanish tactician.