Liverpool battled past a spirited Barnsley side at Anfield to set up an FA Cup fourth-round tie with Brighton.
Arne Slot’s side scored twice in the first half through brilliant strikes from Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong but a calamitous moment from Szoboszlai gave the League One outfit a lifeline.
In the 40th minute, Szoboszlai attempted a backheel in his own box to keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili but scuffed it and Adam Phillips, a boyhood Liverpool fan, was on hand to finish in front of the Kop and send the 6,000 travelling fans wild.
The Tykes had a penalty shout turned down in the second half when Reyes Cleary went down in the box under a challenge from Szoboszlai. On the sideline, Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane was furious and with no video assistant referee in play for the FA Cup third round, there was no check.
Liverpool calmed the nerves late on when substitutes Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz combined, with Wirtz firing an unstoppable effort into the top corner after the France forward’s excellent backheel. The pair combined again in added time, with Ekitike sliding in to tap in at the back post.
Slot stuck to his pre-match promise and did not make wholesale changes but there were starts for teenager Rio Ngumoha and Federico Chiesa, while Ekitike came off the bench in the second half after missing the last two games with injury.
Despite 57 places separating the two sides in the league pyramid, Barnsley flew out of the blocks and hit the bar through Davis Keillor-Dunn’s header in the opening minute.
Szoboszlai calmed the Anfield nerves with a great hit from outside the box that left Murphy Cooper with no chance in the Barnsley goal.
Frimpong doubled Liverpool’s lead in the 36th minute with a left-footed effort but just as the tie looked done and dusted, Szoboszlai delivered the moment that he will never want to watch again.
Thankfully for the Hungarian and Liverpool, it didn’t prove costly. Having lost to Barnsley on the two most recent occasions they visited Anfield in 1997 and 2008, this win extended Liverpool’s unbeaten run to 11 games.
