The German team traveled to the Amex Stadium with hopes of redeeming themselves after the painful 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the previous weekend, which put an end to their unbeaten streak for the 2023-24 season.
However, right from the start, Liverpool’s performance was below par, and they practically served Brighton the opening goal gift-wrapped. Simon Adingra calmly converted from long range after intercepting Virgil van Dijk’s intended pass to Alexis Mac Allister.
Unexpectedly, just before halftime, Liverpool turned the game around. Mohamed Salah beautifully curled in the equalizer and then slotted the ball into the bottom corner from the penalty spot during added time.
This time, it was Brighton’s turn to lament a defensive blunder. Bart Verbruggen, whose decision-making was questionable throughout the match, played a risky short pass to Pascal Gross under pressure from Dominik Szoboszlai. With no other option, Gross tugged on Szoboszlai’s shirt from behind, prompting the referee to award a penalty only after Carlos Baleba also fouled Luis Diaz moments later.
Gross’s challenge sparked a debate over whether he had denied Liverpool a clear goal-scoring opportunity, which would typically result in a red card. However, the 32-year-old escaped without even a caution.
Substitute Ryan Gravenberch missed a golden opportunity to put his team 3-1 up early in the second half, hitting the post with an open goal in front of him. Later on, Lewis Dunk took advantage of Liverpool’s lapse from a free kick and secured a point for Brighton.
When asked if he thought Gross should have been sent off, Klopp confessed that he hadn’t considered the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity rule at the time. In a joking manner, the 56-year-old mentioned that he’s “too old” to lose sleep over such matters.
“I didn’t realize it, to be honest. I saw it was a penalty and didn’t think about a red card, but I’ve heard now that it’s about a goal-scoring opportunity,” Klopp said during his post-game press conference. “If it’s a goal-scoring opportunity, we can ask the question here: do you think it was a goal-scoring opportunity? I didn’t see it again… we have a few hands up, by the way! But what can I say about that? I’m over it, I’m too old for these kinds of things. We won’t change it anymore.”
When questioned about whether he thought a draw was a fair result, Klopp added, “Unfortunately, yes, I think so. In the second half, we should have scored for 3-1; there were one or two really good opportunities. But because we didn’t score, we kept the game open, and in the area where the free-kick was given, we conceded too many set-pieces, corners, and especially free-kicks.”
“After reviewing it, if one of our players touched the ball, I think it was an own goal. That’s what kind of set-piece it was. Then Dunk was there and could score from there. It was intense for both teams, so I think it’s the right result in the end.”
“Despite dropping another two points on the South Coast, Liverpool is in a respectable fourth place in the table heading into the international break. They will return to action with a Merseyside derby against Everton at Anfield on October 21.