March 02, (THEWILL) – After overcoming Norwich 2-1 in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Wednesday, Liverpool’s dreams of completing an unprecedented quadruple remained on course.
Despite a late scare, a largely rotated Reds team followed up their Carabao Cup victory with another victory in domestic trophy action, ensuring their place in Thursday’s sixth round draw.
The hosts had the first decent look of goal when Curtis Jones nearly found the top corner from the edge of the 18-yard box, remarkably dissimilar to the strike that upset Everton in round three of this tournament two seasons ago.
Soon after, Dean Smith’s side had a golden opportunity to score in front of the Kop, with Teemu Pukki dragging a shot through the legs of Jones and wide of Alisson’s goal.
As the hosts increased their pressure, both Kostas Tsimikas and Takumi Minamino had shots blocked, with the latter giving them the lead after 27 minutes. After Diogo Jota drew Christoph Zimmermann, Ben Gibson, and Mathias Normann out of position, the Greek left-back picked out Divock Origi with a beautiful cross, allowing the Belgian to unselfishly tee up Minamino to score Liverpool’s 750th goal under Jurgen Klopp.
With halftime approaching, Minamino snatched his hattrick when Gibson’s headed clearance from a corner fell to him, and he dutifully slammed it in at the near post of Tim Krul.
After skewing a diagonal ball, Joe Gomez nearly gave Norwich a way back into the tie with the final attack of the first half, but Milot Rashica’s drive sailed wide of Alisson’s net.
After play resumed, the Canaries got another quick start when Pukki slid through substitute Josh Sargent, but the American’s shot was identical to the Finnish striker’s in the first half and flew harmlessly away.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hit the outside of the post, and Jota was still causing problems for Norwich, his ferocious strike touching Gibson’s arm, though VAR determined it was not enough to merit a penalty.
Just after the hour mark, Dimitrios Giannoulis’ wonderful whipped cross found the head of Sargent, but his effort was wayward once more. Norwich needed a goal to get the game going, and Pierre-Lees Melou scored a long-range goal with 15 minutes left.
Klopp was not thrilled with this development, so he went to the bench and introduced Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz. Norwich came close to equalising almost immediately after their debuts. Substitute Jonathan Rowe dribbled past James Milner and fired at goal, but Alisson made a smart save to deflect the ball away.
As Liverpool hunted for a decisive winner, Diaz came close to finding the top corner, but the hosts did not need one and won 2-1.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
