Liverpool’s dismal season took another hit on Sunday when the FA Cup holders were eliminated at Brighton after a 2-1 loss.
The Seagulls advanced to the fifth round thanks to Kaoru Mitoma’s superb control and finish in stoppage time.
Harvey Elliott gave Liverpool the lead at the Amex, but they have now won just once in their previous six games.
Before the half, Lewis Dunk pulled Brighton even, and they earned the victory thanks to a brief display of Mitoma’s brilliance.
In the 92nd minute, the Japanese winger deflected a cross from Pervis Estupinan into his path, flipped the ball over Joe Gomez, and blasted high past Alisson Becker.
In the Premier League, Liverpool is mired in ninth place, 21 points back of leaders Arsenal.
The Champions League is their only remaining chance to win a trophy this season after their FA Cup exit.
The team led by Jurgen Klopp was on the verge of a historic quadruple last season, which would have included their first FA Cup victory in 16 years.
However, Klopp is still looking for solutions to reverse their downward trend following their second loss on the south coast in 15 days.
The German referred to Brighton’s 3-0 victory in the teams’ most recent meeting as his worst managerial effort.
This time, Liverpool at least tried to compete, and Mohamed Salah will regret missing two significant early opportunities.
The Egyptian did at least contribute to Liverpool’s goal by releasing Elliott, whose shot Steele was unable to save.
Within nine minutes, Brighton struck back as Dunk deflected Tariq Lamptey’s hard shot past the defenseless Alisson.
Since the Ecuadorian resorted to social media on Friday to try to push through a trade to Arsenal, the hosts were without Moises Caicedo.
Leandro Trossard, who scored a hat-trick against Liverpool earlier in the season, has already left Brighton for the Gunners this month.
Although they were not present, Liverpool was left to rely on luck for the majority of the second session.
Due to their challenges on Alexis Mac Allister and Evan Ferguson, Ibrahima Konate and Fabinho were incredibly fortunate to not receive a red card.
Mitoma’s clever cross required Alisson to leap in front of Solly March and make a terrific save, and Konate did the same to stop Ferguson.
But when Mitoma scored his fourth goal in six games, Brighton’s pressure finally paid off.
