Lackluster Liverpool punished by Toulouse in France

 

Liverpool again failed to sparkle as they suffered a 3-2 defeat against Ligue 1 side Toulouse in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.

Liverpool thought they had equalized with the last kick of the game through Jarell Quansah with a close-range strike, but a VAR intervention canceled it, and the French team took maximum points.

 Quansah will have to, therefore, wait another time for his debut goal from the Merseyside club, as VAR showed that Alexis Mac Allister handled the ball in the buildup to the goal.

The replay showed that the ball bounced off Mac Allister’s chest into his upper arm, which was ruled enough to disallow the goal.

Toulouse showed their intent in the game and got rewarded with the first two goals of the clash through strikes from Aron Donnum and Thijs Dallinga.

Liverpool reduced the deficit through a bizarre own goal from Cristian Casseres Jr, but Frank Magri restored the French side’s two-goal advantage.

 Diogo Jota came off the bench to reduce the deficit again with two minutes of normal time left. The visitors thought they had earned a point with virtually the final kick of the match before VAR’s intervention.

This is a confidence booster for Toulouse, had lost 5-1 in England a few weeks ago. They are 14th in Ligue 1 – just one point above the relegation playoff places.

The hosts went ahead on 36 minutes through a mistake by Kostas Tsimikas. Donnum robbed the Greek left-back, strode forward into the area, and found the back of the net with a shot that deflected off Quansah.

Toulouse top scorer, Dallinga made it two just before the hour, slamming into the bottom corner following a fine team move.

Liverpool reduced the deficit in a bizarre fashion when Toulouse had a defensive mix-up that saw a high cross bounce off Casseres’ back and into his own goal.

They restored their two-goal lead immediately when Magri slammed in the shot from close range after Caoimhin Kelleher palmed out a low cross.

Jota scored the second for the visitors with a powerful low strike as Toulouse held on for a famous win.

Liverpool will need one more win to qualify from Group E. They will need a victory from their final two pool matches to at least reach February’s playoff round.

Written by Oladipupo Mojeed