LONDON: Liverpool claimed a first victory at Selhurst Park in seven attempts to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, coming from behind to win 2-1 against Crystal Palace.
Liverpool´s Premier League title challenge ran aground in a 3-3 draw at Palace last season and they lost 3-1 there in November, so they had reason to fear when Fraizer Campbell netted
By AFP
February 15, 2015
LONDON: Liverpool claimed a first victory at Selhurst Park in seven attempts to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, coming from behind to win 2-1 against Crystal Palace.
Liverpool´s Premier League title challenge ran aground in a 3-3 draw at Palace last season and they lost 3-1 there in November, so they had reason to fear when Fraizer Campbell netted a 15th-minute opener.
But the half-time introduction of Mario Balotelli tipped the tie in the visitors´ favour and after Daniel Sturridge equalised, Adam Lallana scored in the 58th-minute to give Liverpool a first win at Palace since 1997. "After we scored, I thought we were very good. We had 15 efforts on goal in the first half, but we weren´t aggressive enough," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told BT Sport. "I wanted us to keep the width on the pitch. We changed it around at half-time and it worked well for us."
With captain Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling injured and young winger Jordon Ibe cup-tied, Rodgers brought Lallana and Joe Allen into his starting XI.
Palace manager Alan Pardew scored a famous semi-final winner against Liverpool as a player in 1990 and he had another goal against the seven-time winners to celebrate when Campbell broke the deadlock.
Martin Skrtel failed to clear Joe Ledley´s lofted pass and although Dwight Gayle´s brave header was blocked by outrushing Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, Campbell found the net with a tidy volley.
Liverpool piled forward and a flurry of chances saw Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni thwart Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson, while Allen and Lazar Markovic shot narrowly off-target.
At the other end, Mignolet had to produce a smart save to deny Gayle in a one-on-one, but after Balotelli was sent on in place of Markovic to join Sturridge up front, Liverpool took control.
Sturridge equalised in the 49th minute, slamming a back-post volley between Speroni´s legs from Henderson´s clever pass, before Lallana scored the winner after Speroni could only parry Balotelli´s fierce free-kick. (AFP)
