Crystal Palace celebrated another Wembley triumph with a 3-2 penalty shoot-out win over Liverpool in the Community Shield, after drawing 2-2 with the Premier League champions in normal time.
Palace clinched their first-ever major trophy with FA Cup glory here in May against Man City and twice came from behind to eventually defeat Liverpool, with sub Justin Devenny striking the winning spot-kick after his goalkeeper Dean Henderson had saved two and Mohamed Salah had skied another.
It was delight for the Palace supporters – and a welcome distraction from their appeal hearing at CAS, with the answer as to whether they will be playing in the Europa League or Conference League this season set to come on Monday. Their fans made their feelings known about UEFA, who demoted them due to multi-club ownership issues, with banners in the stands.
How the penalties went…
- Salah – missed
- Mateta – scored
- Mac Allister – saved
- Eze – saved
- Gakpo – scored
- Sarr – scored
- Elliott – saved
- Sosa – missed
- Szoboszlai – scored
- Devenny – scored
Liverpool’s £265m worth of summer signings looked to be the story of the day, with Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong on the scoresheet and Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz connecting during some slick attacks. Ekitike and Wirtz also had chances to put the game beyond Palace’s reach after the break.
Unsavoury moments amid Diogo Jota tribute
Wreaths were laid for Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva before kick-off, following their tragic deaths this summer.
However, a few Crystal Palace fans called out ‘Eagles’ during the period of silence, which drew boos from the Liverpool supporters.
That came after Liverpool fans booed the national anthem, which had drawn an angry response from some in the Palace end.
But Arne Slot’s side looked vulnerable throughout and a clumsy Virgil van Dijk challenge on Ismaila Sarr allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to score from the spot and the Dutchman was out of position when Adam Wharton fed Sarr to fire Palace’s second equaliser in off a post.
Team news
- Crystal Palace named the same starting XI as the team which began the FA Cup final win over Man City.
- New Liverpool signings Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez started at Wembley but Ryan Gravenberch was absent due to his partner giving birth. Kostas Tsimikas also missed the match amid uncertainty about his future.
Palace, who had forced Alisson into a fine stop from Eberechi Eze, were then denied a penalty when the ball appeared to strike Alexis Mac Allister’s lifted arm. Devenny also drove inches wide with the last kick of the game – but he and Palace had their winning moment in the end in a dramatic shoot-out.
Henderson: I love the big moments
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Dean Henderson doffs his cap after saving Alexis Mac Allister’s penalty
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson to TNT Sports:
“I love the big moments, I love being in that pressure moment. The homework we did on penalties was great.
“They have unbelievable players and have a great team but two trophies in three months is incredible.
“These emotions are fantastic. With them 2-1 up you think we are out the game. The manager said we’d get chances and we did.”
Glasner: We were on the same level as Liverpool
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner:
“The reaction was great. First game, playing Liverpool, first shot they score – and then we played most of the time in their half and scored the equaliser. Then 2-1 down and the reaction was great again. We said ‘keep calm and we’ll get a few chances and we’ll get the situations’. I’m really pleased with the performance today.
“After the 90 minutes both teams were more or less on the same level and this makes us proud against Liverpool, the champions of the Premier League.”
On match winner Devenny: “I’m delighted he took the decisive penalty. Twenty-one years old. Justin said ‘I’ll take the fifth one’ with a lot of confidence. This is how we want to be. Take responsibility but never be scared you can make a mistake.”
Slot: We now create more – but concede more
Liverpool boss Arne Slot:
“I don’t think there was a main issue, unless if the other team misses two penalties and you still lose within five penalties, that of course doesn’t help. But I think in general, it was a game where we twice came one goal up and in my opinion we controlled the game until the moment they scored the 2-2. And then all of a sudden, although we still had one big chance from Mo Salah, we could have lost it in the end as well.
“But until that moment of the 2-1, I think there was every reason for me to expect that we would win this game. But after the 2-2, we were maybe lucky that we could go to penalties.
“In the whole pre-season we saw that we are able to create more and we are more comfortable on the ball. We create more opportunities, chances, we dominate maybe even more. Last season we had a lot of ball possession, but that didn’t always lead to promising situations.
“But we have conceded four against Milan, one vs [Yokohama F. Marinos], two against Bilbao and two today. “What made us really strong last season was that we only won by a margin of one goal and that had mostly to do with us keeping a clean sheet or as a maximum conceding one goal.”
Analysis: Liverpool’s new stars shine – but Salah, Van Dijk off their best level
Sky Sports’ Peter Smith:
There was some electric play from Liverpool on the front foot, particularly down the left side, where Kerkez, Wirtz and Ekitike were on the same wavelength. Slot will have been encouraged by their connections for the first goal, which eventually saw the new frontman take a fine touch, swivel, shift and then fire into the bottom corner.
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Hugo Ekitike celebrates after giving Liverpool an early lead
There was a big slice of fortune for Frimpong’s own debut goal, with his miscued cross dropping in over Henderson, but his threat down the right was evident, too, with the former Bayer Leverkusen man getting into dangerous positions high up the pitch.
Ekitike may well reflect on two bad misses at the start of the second half – the first a header from Cody Gakpo’s cross and the second a shot over from Wirtz’s low cross – and the Germany international also sent a good opportunity into the stands.
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Mohamed Salah’s pass accuracy was the lowest out of any starting player at Wembley
But rather than wayward finishing, Liverpool’s defending – or more specifically the balance of their set-up – will be on Slot’s mind. With Frimpong and Kerkez keen to push forwards and regular holder Ryan Gravenberch absent because his partner gave birth on Saturday night, Liverpoool were too often opened up by Palace’s swift attackers.
That highlighted some rustiness in Van Dijk’s play – although it is worth remembering the captain has only just returned from illness. Another icon of Liverpool’s recent history, Salah, was also off colour, largely anonymous throughout and then badly off target in the shoot-out.
Alisson did at least deliver an impressive performance – but while there were exciting elements to Liverpool’s play, it appears there is still some work to do to make this new-look side all come together as they’d like.
Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from this season
From this season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports