LIVERPOOL 1 WOLVES 2 WOLVES OWE IT TO KID COSTA

It’s a Loan star humbles Kop stars

JUBILANT Paul Lambert saluted the inspiration of on-loan Wolves hero Helder Costa as his stars dumped Liverpool out of the FA Cup.

Wanderers stunned Anfield by taking a 2-0 half-time lead – both made by Benfica ace Costa – in their fourth- round tie against Jurgen Klopp’s team.

And although Liverpool – who had a staggering 80 per cent of possession – roared back and set up a nerve- wracking finish with an 86th-minute reply, Wolves held on for a famous win.

And Lambert is now worried that Costa’s super-show has alerted Premier League club’s to the 23-year-old’s rich talents – with Wanderers in talks to seal a £13million deal for the trickster.

“It doesn’t surprise me about Costa. He’s a huge talent. You see him train and wonder where it comes from,” said boss Lambert (below).

“He’s been playing like that since I came here. And he’s a big part of what we are doing.

Fear

“I found out on Friday the two clubs are talking about his future so we will see what happens, but you’d take him hands down. All I can do is to try and get the best out of him.

“He’s been playing like that for weeks and he’s not the only one.

“Costa’s getting the limelight because he’s exciting, a threat and he makes things happen.

“But this wasn’t about one individual, it was about the team.

“I had four 18-year-olds in the squad and this will be fantastic for their development and something to aspire to.

“I’ve never been beaten here as a player or manager with Celtic, Aston Villa and Norwich – but this was the best because of the gulf in the leagues and the players. I thought we deserved to win, though, I really did.

“I would be a fool if I thought it would be easy, but I thought if we could thrive on the atmosphere and not fear it we would have a chance.

“I know Liverpool made changes, but I made six, too. And when I looked at their side at the finish it was not really weak.”

Defender Richard Stearman, who grabbed Wolves’ opener, said: “We knew we had to start well and be on the front foot.

“You saw the fans’ celebrations and it’s going to carry on late into the night. We are so delighted to be in the next round.” For Reds chief Klopp it was another disastrous day and Liverpool’s season i s spiralling downwards fast after going out of two cup competitions in the space of four days.

The German said: “I don’t know if it is the lowest point of time for me, but if it is then it’s the perfect time to return to how it was.

“It feels bad and we have to use it as motivation, but it’s not the right time to speak about being positive and optimistic because in this moment we feel really bad. Every boy could have played better, but for each single performance there is an explanation. Now we prepare for the Chelsea game.

Quality

“They have the highest quality in the Premier League so we will try and recover, hope the crowd does too and look forward to playing the league leaders on Tuesday – we need everyone with us. “We started badly against Wolves and it didn’t get better so there is not a lot of good things to say. For the first goal in the opening minute we were not ready and although after that we tried we were not good enough in the first half.

“We were better in the second half, but we should be. Cup games like this are always difficult, especially after losing our last two games and not being full of confidence or flying.

“We made a lot of changes as we couldn’t do it much differently. The start didn’t help as it made everything easier for them and difficult for us.

“We were too static against a deep defending side and we didn’t play too often together. But Wolves played really well and deserved to win the game.”