VIDEO: Núñez was red carded for unsporting behaviour, his shortcut cost Liverpool two points

First round draw, second round draw. This is certainly not the start Liverpool imagined. On Monday, Jürgen Klopp’s charges lost points to Crystal Palace after a 1-1 draw.

James Milner had the first chance in the second minute, but from a volley he narrowly missed the target. In the eighth minute, Harvey Elliott’s attempt was first blocked by Joachim Andersen, then Darwin Núñez’s shot went high over.

The home side dominated, especially Trent Alexander Arnold on the right side of the defence. In the 22nd minute, the Reds’ biggest star Mohamed Salah made his presence felt and the Egyptian speedster’s first touch just missed the near post.

Seven minutes later, Salah found Arnold with a loose ball behind the defence and Vicente Guaita dealt with ease. In the 33rd minute, all of a sudden, the stadium went silent. Eberechi Eze pulled off a fast break, then perfectly timed a pass to Wilfried Zaha, who handled the finish.

The African striker could have added a second goal seven minutes later, but this time Alisson Becker kept him out. Núñez had the equalizer in the first half, but only hit the bar and the score was 0:1.

Liverpool did not enter the second half ideally and went down to ten men in the 57th minute. Núñez was not in control of his emotions and saw a red card after a header into Andersen.

But the sending off seemed to kick the home side into touch. Three minutes after that, Luis Diaz flashed a successful individual action and finished it off with a goal of his own.

Liverpool were clearly the better side even with ten men, but they weren’t getting as many shots off. It was only in the 86th minute that Salah fired dangerously and just missed the front post. The away side held on to take a point back to London with a 1-1 draw.

Source: Canal+ Sport