Salah misses penalty as Liverpool lose to Bournemouth

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah missed a second-half penalty as his side fell to a 1-0 defeat away at Bournemouth on Saturday, with Philip Billing’s goal lifting the south-coast side out of the Premier League relegation zone.

Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi fight for possession at Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth on Saturday.Credit:Getty Images

Liverpool started well, with Mohamed Salah scuffing an early shot goalwards and Cody Gakpo having an effort ruled out for offside.

Bournemouth defender Jefferson Lerma also had to clear a Virgil van Dijk header off the line, but as so often before this season, the wheels quickly came off for the visitors.

Bournemouth’s Dango Outtara fired wide after a one-on-one with Alisson, but the Reds didn’t heed that warning, and they paid for it in the 28th minute when he outpaced Van Dijk and squared the ball for Billing, who steered it home.

Former Liverpool player Dominic Solanke almost added a second just before the break and Billing went sprawling in the box, but his appeals for a penalty were waved away as Bournemouth closed out the half strongly.

Diogo Jota came on for Harvey Elliot at halftime and quickly made his presence felt, forcing a save from Neto with a stinging shot four minutes after the break.

Jota then won a penalty for Liverpool as his goal-bound header struck the arm of Adam Smith, but to the horror of the travelling fans Salah blasted his spot kick high and wide of the goal.

That miss in the 70th minute seemed to deflate Liverpool entirely, and they did precious little to threaten the Bournemouth goal, with Gakpo flashing a late opportune effort over the bar as his side’s attack came up short again.

The home fans cheered every tackle and clearance and they erupted in joy at the final whistle as their side put some daylight between themselves and the rest of the clubs at the bottom of the table.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was left to pick over the remains of another poor performance from his side in a season that has never really got going for them.

“The spaces where we wanted to play were super clear, they were super open … we didn’t use that often enough, we didn’t enjoy the challenge of facing a deep, compact side,” Klopp said, declining to blame the defeat on Salah’s penalty miss.

“If you score there, it doesn’t make the performance better, but it could change the result. He (Salah) scores a lot of goals, but he missed the penalty. That’s life.”

Reuters

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