Crystal Palace advanced to the fifth round of the Carabao Cup with a shock 3-0 victory over Liverpool on Wednesday evening.

The first big chance of the match came in the 23rd minute, and it was a chance for the hosts, Liverpool. The opportunity came pretty much out of nothing, as Andrew Robertson kicked the ball up the pitch and his pass went over the top of the Crystal Palace defence for Federico Chiesa to chase. The Italian beat the Palace defenders for pace, but his first touch was poor, which limited his opportunity. He still managed to get a shot off, but he ended up putting it way over the bar.

After Chiesa’s missed opportunity, the match went relatively quiet, and neither side had particularly great chances in the final third, but in the 40th minute, Palace took the lead. Daichi Kamada lofted the ball into Liverpool’s penalty area, and the reigning Premier League champions failed to clear. The ball fell to Ismaila Sarr, who rifled an excellent left-footed finish into the bottom corner past Freddie Woodman to put his side in the lead.

Just minutes after opening the scoring, Palace made it 2-0, and it was Sarr with the goal again. The Senegalese international once again finished well, but the build-up play was the best thing about the goal. The Eagles played some beautiful, quick one-touch football, and eventually, when the ball got to Yeremi Pino, the Spaniard played a picture-perfect through ball into Sarr, who made no mistake with his finish, calmly slotting it past Woodman for his second of the match.

The first half came to a close with Palace in a 2-0 lead.

In the second half, not much was happening in terms of goalmouth action, as it mainly consisted of Liverpool trying their best to break Palace down, but they couldn’t. However, in the 79th minute, the match livened up, as Amara Nallo, who was substituted on just 12 minutes prior, was shown a straight red card. The youngster brought down Justin Devenny when he was the last man and in on goal, which makes it two sendings off in two senior matches for Liverpool.

In the 87th minute, Liverpool’s evening went from bad to worse, as Palace made it 3-0. It was Pino with the goal, and the Spaniard showcased some beautiful footwork in Liverpool’s box before slotting an excellent finish past Freddie Woodman into the bottom corner. This goal was the cherry on top for Pino, as he was Palace’s best player on the night.

Pino’s goal was the last action of the match, and Palace advanced to the fifth round of the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 victory.

Match Highlights

To follow soon…

Liverpool Player Ratings

GK: Freddie Woodman – 6/10

Made a few decent saves and looked quite comfortable with the ball at his feet. The debutant couldn’t have really done anything more to stop Palace’s goals.

RWB: Calvin Ramsay – 7/10

Looked pretty solid defensively, but didn’t offer much offensively. The Scotsman was arguably the best of Liverpool’s defenders.

CB: Wataru Endo – 5.5/10

Saw plenty of the ball at the back, but didn’t really do anything with it to get Liverpool further up the pitch. Endo, like several other Liverpool players, seemed to struggle with the pace of the game and made a few sloppy errors, but luckily, none of them were costly.

CB: Joe Gomez – 5/10

Quite poor and slow to react to Palace’s opening goal, and just looked uncomfortable throughout the match.

CB: Andrew Robertson – 6/10

Decent with the ball at his feet and almost had an assist to his name in the first half. The experienced defender was decent, but like his fellow centre-halves, he often looked sloppy and slow when called into action defensively.

LWB: Milos Kerkez – 5.5/10

Really poor and sloppy defensively at times, and never really contributed anything in the final third either.

CM: Trey Nyoni – 6.5/10

A solid showing by the youngster. Nyoni looked like an intelligent midfielder at times, with plenty of potential, but he also looked physically out of his depth sometimes.

CM: Alexis Mac Allister – 6.5/10

Had some moments during the match where he played some really nice passes around the pitch, but for the most part, Mac Allister didn’t really have an impact on the match and often looked to struggle with the pace of the game.

RW: Kieran Morrison – 5/10

Although the youngster tried his best, he had a pretty poor showing. Morrison’s passing to his teammates was generally poor, and he struggled to make any type of impact in the final third of the pitch.

ST: Federico Chiesa – 6.5/10

A livewire in the final third despite lacking good service. The Italian had a solid first half as he was constantly stretching the Palace defence, but he should’ve scored the very good opportunity he had in the 28th minute.

LW: Rio Ngumoha – 6.5/10

Tried his best to make things happen with his pace and dribbling, but Palace were just so solid defensively, the youngster didn’t have much success.

SUB: Amara Nallo – 4/10

A disastrous cameo by the youngster. Nallo was on the pitch for just 12 minutes as he was sent off.

SUB: Kaide Gordon – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.

SUB: Wellity Lucky – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.

SUB: Trent Kone-Doherty – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.

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Crystal Palace Player Ratings

GK: Walter Benitez – 7/10

A comfortable night for the Argentine. Benitez had just one save to make during the match and also didn’t have much to do with the ball at his feet.

RWB: Daniel Munoz – 7.5/10

A good, energetic performance by the Colombian. Munoz was up and down the right flank all evening and even had a part to play in Palace’s opening goal, as he made himself a nuisance in the box, which led to Liverpool not being able to clear their lines.

CB: Jaydee Canvot – 7.5/10

Excellent at playing the ball out from the back and produced plenty of key defensive actions to protect Benitez.

CB: Marc Guehi – 8/10

Got Palace further up the pitch plenty of times with his passing and dribbling out from defence. Defensively, Guehi didn’t put a foot wrong either.

CB: Maxence Lacroix – 7.5/10

Like his fellow defenders, Lacroix also didn’t put a foot wrong defensively and was good at getting his side further up the pitch.

LWB: Borna Sosa – 7/10

Defensively didn’t put a single foot wrong, and also looked fairly lively going forward as well.

CM: Will Hughes – 7.5/10

Worked his socks off and showcased some real quality in the midfield at times. The experienced midfielder dictated the play at times and was a much-needed calm head at important times in the match.

CM: Daichi Kamada – 7.5/10

Defensively solid and worked extremely hard in the midfield, but managed to showcase his excellent passing range plenty of times.

RW: Ismaila Sarr – 9/10

The match winner. Sarr only touched the ball 25 times during his time on the pitch, but he had a huge impact. He took both of his goals extremely well and tested the goalkeeper every time he had a shot on goal.

ST: Edward Nketiah – 6.5/10

Substituted at half-time despite having a decent showing. Although he didn’t have a direct involvement in Palace’s goals, for their second, he made an outstanding run which split Liverpool’s defence, enabling Sarr to go through on goal.

LW: Yeremi Pino – 9/10 (Man of the Match)

A masterclass by the young Spaniard. Pino was the biggest creative threat on the pitch by a mile, and not only did he assist Sarr for his second goal, but he also scored a terrific goal himself.

SUB: Jean-Philippe Mateta – 6.5/10

Tricky for the Liverpool defenders to deal with at times, but he didn’t have much success in terms of attempts on goal.

SUB: Justin Devenny – 7/10

Came on and played with plenty of energy, which saw Liverpool go down to 10 men.

SUB: Rio Cardines – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.

SUB: Jefferson Lerma – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.​​​​​​​

SUB: Christantus Uche – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.