Darwin Nunez was dismissed on his home debut for Liverpool’s South Americans, but Luis Diaz scored a miraculous strike to give the 10-man hosts a point in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
Wilfried Zaha’s first-half goal and Nunez’s dismissal just before the hour made it seem as though Jurgen Klopp’s squad would lose, according to DPA.
However, Diaz’s outstanding individual effort brought his team even before the Premier League runners-up of last season began their fruitless search for a winner.
Liverpool, who are now four points behind arch rivals Manchester City, will suffer another early-season setback as a result. However, similar to their opening-day draw against Fulham, manager Jurgen Klopp may see it as a victory in the given situation.
Nunez missed a volley attempt from the far post for Liverpool as they attempted to score first. Mohamed Salah also came close to scoring after a pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold, but his sidefooted effort sailed just wide of the near post.
After taking in so much action at the other end, it was Palace who seized the lead in the 33rd minute. Eberechi Eze evaded Fabinho and fed Zaha in on goal, who fired past Alisson and into the bottom-right corner.
Harvey Elliott’s chip found Nunez down the left side of the penalty box just before halftime, giving Liverpool hope that they had drawn even, but his deflected shot rebounded off the post.
Nunez’s situation got even worse when the Uruguayan shoved Joachim Andersen after the Dane had assaulted Nunez, prompting referee Paul Tierney to show the Liverpool striker a red card.
A superb strike from @LuisFDiaz19 during the 1-1 draw with Palace pic.twitter.com/kkWZkj5QEK
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 15, 2022
However, the classic Anfield atmosphere came back to life as Diaz dribbled past several Palace defenders and cut inside before curling one in the left side of the goal past Crystal Palace’s Vicente Guaita.
Both the teams kept at it in their ambitions to score the winner late in the game with the home team struggling to find chances being a man down. Palace was also provided with a golden chance in the end as Wilfred Zaha missed a good chance for the visitors.
(Inputs from IANS)