Liverpool endured a humiliating FA Cup exit as Championship side Plymouth stunned them with a 1-0 win, ending their quadruple hopes in the fourth round on Sunday.
Arne Slot’s decision to field a weakened Liverpool side backfired, with Ryan Hardie’s second-half penalty securing Plymouth’s dramatic upset at Home Park.
Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, and Cody Gakpo were among the key players rested, as Slot made 10 changes from the team that cruised past Tottenham 4-0 in the League Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday.
In what has been an otherwise successful first season in charge, this marked a rare misstep for the former Feyenoord boss.
Liverpool’s fourth defeat of the season was only the third time they had failed to score under Slot. It also marked just the fourth occasion a Premier League leader had been knocked out of the FA Cup by a lower-division club.
Liverpool will now need to quickly recover from their embarrassing loss ahead of the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park against Everton on Wednesday.
There is little need for Liverpool to panic as a win over Everton would move them nine points clear of second-placed Arsenal in the title race.
The Reds are also through to the Champions League last 16 and will face Newcastle in the League Cup final in March.
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 in January — was forced to move to Austria aged nine after escaping his home town of Bihac after it fell under siege by Serbian forces in 1992.
Plymouth had already beaten Premier League side Brentford in the third round, but their victory against West Brom last weekend was their first in the league since November.
In the circumstances, Plymouth’s superb performance will rank as one of the FA Cup’s greatest giant-killings.
– Liverpool misery –
Under a wintry sun by the Devon coast, Liverpool’s under-strength line-up got even weaker when Joe Gomez limped off injured early in the first half.
Liverpool struggled to find any momentum as gritty Plymouth worked tirelessly to keep them at bay.
It took until the 36th minute for Liverpool to muster a shot on target when James McConnell’s long-range drive was repelled by Conor Hazard.
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 Hazard in stoppage-time as Home Park erupted in celebration of an astonishing result.
Wolves cruised into the fifth round as two goals in the space of 39 seconds sealed a 2-0 win at second-tier Blackburn.
Languishing just two points above the relegation zone in the Premier League, Vitor Pereira’s side enjoyed a much-needed break from their survival battle with a cup run.
Wolves, who have not reached an FA Cup final since their last win in 1960, took the lead in the 33rd minute when Joao Gomes’ shot slipped past Balazs Toth’s feeble attempted save.
Less than a minute later, Wolves struck again as Nelson Semedo’s pass sent Matheus Cunha charging through, with the Brazilian forward blasting a shot into the far corner.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, under increasing pressure, cannot afford another cup exit as his team faces Aston Villa in Sunday’s late match.
Postecoglou had previously claimed that he always wins a trophy in his second season, but his chances of achieving that goal will be slim if Villa eliminate them.