Liverpool suffered a stunning FA Cup exit on Sunday in a 1-0 defeat to Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle, while Aston Villa inflicted another damaging 2-1 defeat on Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou.
Arne Slot’s decision to field a weakened team came back to haunt him, with Ryan Hardie’s second-half penalty sealing Plymouth’s epic upset and ending Liverpool’s quest for a quadruple at Home Park.
Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson and Cody Gakpo were among the stars rested as Slot made 10 changes from the team that thrashed Tottenham 4-0 in the League Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday.
Photo: Reuters
In a remarkably successful first season in charge of the Reds, it was a rare blunder by the former Feyenoord boss.
It was only the fourth time that a team top of the Premier League had been eliminated from the FA Cup by a lower division club.
“We were not having a very good day. A result like this is the outcome,” Slot said.
Masterminding a famous victory over Liverpool while fighting to haul Plymouth off the bottom of the Championship was no hardship for Argyle manager Miron Muslic, who was a refugee from war-torn Bosnia as a child.
Muslic — hired by Plymouth to replace the sacked Wayne Rooney last month — was forced to move to Austria aged nine after escaping his hometown of Bihac after it fell under siege by Serbian forces in 1992.
Plymouth had already beaten English Premier League side Brentford in the third round, but their victory against West Bromwich Albion last weekend was their first in the league since November last year.
“I’m speechless, and normally they tell me I’m eloquent. It’s a big day for us,” Muslic said. “It’s a magical day. I told the lads in the locker room to enjoy it.”
In the circumstances, Plymouth’s superb performance would rank as one of the FA Cup’s greatest giant-killings.
Slot wore an exasperated expression that summed up Liverpool’s lethargy even before Darko Gyabi’s overhead kick was blocked by Harvey Elliott’s raised arm in the 54th minute.
It was a clear penalty and Hardie kept his composure to send Caoimhin Kelleher the wrong way from the spot. Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez were denied by fine saves from Conor Hazard in stoppage-time as Home Park erupted in celebration of an astonishing result.
Fresh from their thrashing at Anfield to exit the League Cup on Thursday, another chance at ending Spurs’ long wait for silverware went awry for the under-fire Postecoglou.
The writing was on the wall for the visitors after just one minute when goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky let Jacob Ramsey’s shot through his grasp.
Son Heung-min missed a huge chance to level for an injury-ravaged Tottenham when he was denied by Emiliano Martinez before halftime.
Morgan Rogers sealed Spurs’ fate when he blasted in from close range 25 minutes from time.
Villa could then afford the luxury of introducing Marcus Rashford for his first appearance since completing a loan move from Manchester United.
However, it was another January signing who made an impressive impact off the bench as Mathys Tel produced a deft finish for his first Tottenham goal in stoppage time.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS