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Mario Balotelli inspires Liverpool to late turnaround against Swansea Mario Balotelli inspires Liverpool to late turnaround against Swansea
(about 2 hours later)
Centre of attention as usual, only this time it was for the right reasons for Mario Balotelli and Liverpool. The maligned striker helped turn the Capital One Cup tie against Swansea City from torment to triumph for Brendan Rodgers’s team as Garry Monk’s men self-destructed at Anfield. The Mario Balotelli soap opera has taken a dramatic twist. The tale has been one of anguish and irritation for Brendan Rodgers since he took a punt on the Italy international 10 weeks ago but it turned to joy and relief as the maligned striker instigated a rousing Liverpool recovery at Swansea City’s expense in the Capital One Cup.
There were four minutes remaining and Liverpool were heading for a damaging fourth round exit, their second to Rodgers’ former club in two years, when Balotelli met Fabio Borini’s exquisite cross with a close-range volley to equalise Marvin Emnes’s impressive opener. It was only the striker’s second goal in Liverpool colours since his £16m arrival from Milan but cue for a remarkable transformation. Rodgers’ team advanced to the quarter-finals having stared at a demoralising exit and a third consecutive home game without a goal with 86 minutes on the clock. Marvin Emnes had swept Garry Monk’s side ahead in impressive fashion and Swansea appeared set for a second fourth-round win at Anfield in two years. Then Fabio Borini delivered an exquisite cross from the right wing, Balotelli showed movement in the penalty area that many at Liverpool had begun to fear was beyond him and steered home only his second goal for the club on the volley. “Finally,” he later tweeted.
From one nil up and comfortable, Swansea soon found themselves down to 10 men when Federico Fernández was harshly dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Philippe Coutinho. The 10 men never made it to extra time to exert themselves. In stoppage time, with the Swansea defence and goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel flapping at a Coutinho free-kick to the far post, Dejan Lovren rose to head home the winner unopposed. His first goal in a competitive game for Liverpool brought respite for Rodgers when a third Anfield game without a goal beckoned only seconds earlier. Judgment must be reserved on a potential turning point for the £16m signing from Milan. In the context of a trying cup tie at Anfield his impact was beyond dispute. Liverpool were toiling before his equaliser. Shortly after it Federico Fernández was harshly sent off for a 90th-minute challenge on Philippe Coutinho and it was from the Brazilian’s deep free-kick in stoppage time that Dejan Lovren headed the winner into an unguarded visiting net. Swansea’s defence and goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel were at fault for Lovren’s first competitive goal for Liverpool but the dismissal of a centre-half seconds earlier cannot be discounted from the set-piece chaos.
The Swansea manager, Monk, made five changes to the side that defeated Leicester City in the Premier League at the weekend while his Liverpool counterpart, Rodgers, gave Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling a rare night off as Lucas Leiva, Lazar Markovic and Fabio Borini returned from the margins. There was also an attempted departure from the Liverpool script of recent weeks with Balotelli starting on the bench rather than alongside Rickie Lambert despite encouraging signs between the pair in the final stages of Saturday’s goalless draw with Hull City. “With better defending for the first goal and a better decision for the sending-off we’d be going away from here with a win,” Monk, the Swansea manager, said. “It is clearly not a red card. If anything, the Liverpool player’s foot was higher than our player’s foot. The referee [Keith Stroud] is a sensible referee and hopefully he will rescind it.”
Disruption affected the visiting performance far greater than Liverpool’s. Whereas Swansea were sluggish, careless in possession and only threatening whenever Liverpool stand-in goalkeeper Brad Jones attempted to clear the ball, the home side commanded the majority of the first half. Rodgers did not appear for the post-match press conference, electing to send his assistant Colin Pascoe instead. He missed a rare chance to answer a barrage of Balotelli questions with a positive slant.
Not that Tremmel was over-worked in the Swansea goal, however. “It is great for Mario, he wants to work all the time,” said Pascoe. “He is a resilient lad with a tremendous talent. He wants to work on his movement and his finishing. We had to assess him before the game. He felt something in his knee during the warm-up and Mike Marsh [the first team coach] sent him in to see the physio.”
Philippe Coutinho was deployed at the centre of Liverpool’s attack and was at the heart of almost every opening created before the interval. The all-clear proved an invaluable verdict for Liverpool. Rodgers’ team controlled the opening 40 minutes, Coutinho to the fore, without overworking Tremmel in the Swansea goal and their display was becoming increasingly erratic before Balotelli’s intervention. Lazar Markovic squandered the home side’s best chance before the interval when he latched on to an incisive counterattack led by Coutinho and Jordan Henderson, who was captain for the night with Steven Gerrard rested along with Raheem Sterling. A sliced effort into the Anfield Road stand encapsulated Markovic’s contribution since his £20m summer arrival from Benfica.
The Brazilian teed up compatriot Lucas for a low drive straight at Swansea’s goalkeeper from the first concerted attack of the game, shot wide after Jefferson Montero lost possession in a dangerous area and almost cut free inside the penalty area only for midfielder Jay Fulton to intercept with critical timing. Swansea struggled initially. “We allowed Liverpool too much time on the ball,” Monk said, but the visitors finally exerted pressure on their opponents and found their accuracy in possession in the second half. Nathan Dyer and the former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey went close moments before the interval, Bafetimbi Gomis tested the stand-in keeper Brad Jones with a header from Shelvey’s corner shortly after the restart and a rare incisive move produced the breakthrough in the 66th minute.
Coutinho also instigated a counter-attack that should have brought the breakthrough for Liverpool midway through the first half but only succeeded in highlighting Markovic’s meagre form since his £20m summer arrival from Benfica. Swansea were outnumbered, with the defender Fernández dragged out of position once again, when Coutinho released Jordan Henderson who in turn found the Serbian lurking free on the left. His sliced effort yards wide of Tremmel’s goal prompted more resignation than surprise from the Anfield crowd. Shelvey was afforded far too much space to drive at the centre of Liverpool’s defence. His attempted flick into the area failed to come off but deflected to Neil Taylor, the marauding left-back, who lofted the ball into the penalty area for Emnes to sweep a fine left-footed volley beyond Jones and into the far corner.
Fabio Borini went close with two chances inside a minute, curling a shot inches wide after a neat turn on the edge of the area and then forcing Tremmel into his first serious save of note from 25 yards. For all of Liverpool’s control, the lack of genuine goalscoring opportunities must have concerned Rodgers as well as encouraging Monk’s men. The Holland Under-21 international almost doubled the visitors’ lead from Jefferson Montero’s pass after a loose ball from Lucas Leiva and Tremmel denied Glen Johnson when parrying the full-back’s drive from distance.
Almost inevitability, after 40 minutes of one-way football, Swansea finished the first half on top and were close to departing at half-time with an unmerited advantage. Rodgers introduced Adam Lallana and Balotelli for the ineffective pair of Markovic and Rickie Lambert in the closing stages but a second successive midweek cup defeat, following Real Madrid’s imperious Champions League win last week, beckoned until the Italian met his compatriot’s fine delivery and spread personal plus collective relief around Anfield.
Nathan Dyer had his head in his hands when his shot from 18 yards deflected just wide of Jones’s top corner after a Jonjo Shelvey free-kick was turned into his path by Lovren. The former Liverpool midfielder also forced Jones into a low save with a powerful free-kick as Swansea showed belated intent. There was still time for Balotelli to engage in a running argument with Shelvey, one that the Liverpool striker was keen to continue after Lovren’s late winner and had not abated by the time the two reached the tunnel. For once, however, Balotelli had cause for celebration.
Swansea triumphed at Anfield in the same stage of the competition en route to winning the trophy two years ago and evidently sensed a repeat as Liverpool’s performance deteriorated at the start of the second half. Unusually for a Swansea side, set-pieces appeared their most potent weapon with Montero, Dyer and Emnes starved of the service required to punish Liverpool on the counter-attack.
Bafetimbi Gomis tested Jones with a clean header from Shelvey’s corner, and Monk’s patience when he tumbled for a non-existent penalty claim shortly afterwards, but a rare incisive move delivered the breakthrough in the 66th minute. Shelvey was afforded far too much space to drive at the centre of Liverpool’s defence. His attempted flick into the area failed to come off but deflected to Neil Taylor, the marauding left-back, who lofted the ball into the penalty area for Emnes to sweep a fine left-footed volley beyond Jones and into the far corner.
The Dutch Under-21 international almost doubled the visitors’ lead from Montero’s pass after a loose ball from Lucas and Tremmel denied Glen Johnson an equaliser when parrying the full-back’s drive from distance.
Rodgers introduced Adam Lallana and Balotelli for the ineffective pair of Markovic and Lambert in the closing stages and was repaid in stunning style.