Liverpool suffered their second defeat of the season in the League Cup semi-final first leg at Tottenham (1-0) on Wednesday, a team largely weakened by injuries and setbacks.
The release for Tottenham came from a goal from Lucas Bergvall (86th, 1-0), an 18-year-old Swedish midfielder, started due to absences.
The current Premier League leader will have to make up for it in the return match on February 6 at Anfield if he wants to retain his title the following month at Wembley.
In the meantime, Arne Slot’s team lost the invincibility it had managed to extend over 24 matches (20 wins, 4 draws) and a defeat against Nottingham Forest in mid-September in the league, by the same score.
The Dutch coach had certainly rested some managers at kick-off, but his offensive line looked great with Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo.
Conversely, the “Spurs” were decimated. And they lost their midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur at the very start of the match after a serious incident.
The Uruguayan midfielder, who fell seriously after a diving header, remained on the ground for around ten minutes, taken care of by medical staff who evacuated him on a stretcher. The player, “conscious”, went to the hospital for additional examinations, the club then indicated.
Coach Ange Postecoglou can consider himself cursed, since between suspensions (Maddison and Sarr), injuries or poor form (van de Ven, Udogie, Romero, Odobert, Richarlison…), he was missing almost an entire team Wednesday.
-Antonin Kinsky, Tottenham’s young Czech goalkeeper, in front of Liverpool striker Cody Gakpo during the League Cup semi-final first leg on January 8, 2025 in Tottenham
JUSTIN TALLIS – AFP
And as the Australian has lost his N.1 goalkeeper (Vicario) for several months, and his N.2 (Forster) for two matches, it is the new recruit Antonin Kinsky who was propelled into the cage, three days later his arrival in London. .
At 21, the Czech from Slavia Prague experienced a particularly hot baptism of fire against the best attack in the Premier League. And it went pretty well.
In the second half, he repels a lobbed shot from Salah under the crossbar (59th) and stops a shot from Nunez (69th). Above all, he made a superb reflex save in front of the latter in added time (90th + 4).
AFP / Londres (AFP) / © 2025 AFP
