Plymouth Argyle’s Callum Wright is carried by Matthew Sorinola as they rejoice after the English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Plymouth Argyle and Liverpool at Home Park stadium in Plymouth, England, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Premier League leader Liverpool was knocked out of the FA Cup by second-tier struggler Plymouth after losing 1-0 in a shocking fourth-round upset on Sunday.
It ended any hopes of a quadruple of major trophies for Liverpool, which leads the Premier League by six points with a game in hand, finished top of the revamped first stage of the Champions League and has reached the English League Cup final.
Article continues after this commercial
Ryan Hardie’s 53rd-minute penalty proved to be the winner for Plymouth, a club from the southwest of England which is in last place within the second-tier Championship and recently fired Wayne Rooney as its manager.
READ: Salah double pushes Liverpool 9 points clear in Premier League
“All of us got here here today with a dream,” Hardie said, “and now we have done it.”
Liverpool fielded a heavily rotated lineup, without stars like Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk who weren’t even on the bench, but still had established internationals like Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota on the sector in a frenetic ending to the sport as Plymouth was forced to defend doggedly.
Article continues after this commercial
At the top of a nerve-shredding nine minutes of stoppage time, Plymouth goalkeeper Conor Hazard produced a shocking save to tip over a header from Nunez after which was in the precise place to maintain out one other header — this time from Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after he got here up for a corner.
In the long run, the crucial moment was when Harvey Elliott raised his hands to stop the ball going into the penalty area and the referee awarded a handball. Hardie composed himself and slotted his spot kick the wrong way to where Kelleher dived.
“They were great today and made it really, really hard for us and we couldn’t address that,” Elliott said. “It’s a learning curve. It’s a distinct game for us because we’re not used to playing these sort of games.”
READ: Diallo goal seals 2-2 draw for Man United against Liverpool
Liverpool manager Arne Slot congratulated Plymouth and acknowledged his team “hardly created anything in any respect.”
“Probably our greatest a part of the sport was the last 10 minutes, in order that tells you we kept on fighting,” Slot said. “But credit to them — good game plan and so they worked incredibly hard.”
Plymouth became the primary club from outside the Premier League to beat a team that’s leading the highest flight since Wigan eliminated Manchester City in February 2018, statistic supplier Opta said of the FA Cup.
There have been great scenes at the ultimate whistle as Plymouth players hugged one another on the sector and fans did the identical within the stands at Home Park.
Your subscription couldn’t be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.
Liverpool is an eight-time winner of the FA Cup, most recently in 2022.
