FOOTIE HORROR
Patricio’s horror dampens Jota joy
RUI PATRICIO was carried off on a stretcher last night as Wolves suffered another sickening blow to overshadow Diogo Jota’s goalscoring return to his old club.
Keeper Patricio was knocked out cold late on after colliding with team-mate Conor Coady.
He needed to be given oxygen on the pitch but was later said to be conscious in an incident with echoes of the Raul Jimenez injury at Arsenal. To make it worse Raul (left) was watching from the stands.
DIOGO JOTA came back to haunt his old club as stuttering Liverpool chalked up a much-needed win.
Jurgen Klopp’s faltering champions had lost six of their previous seven games in what has become a fiasco of a title defence.
But Wolves old boy Jota came up trumps, clinching the precious three points that see Liverpool close the gap on the Champions League spots to five points.
But they had to ride their luck and were extremely fortunate not to concede a penalty in the very first minute.
Even Sky pundit Jamie Carragher admitted his beloved club “got away with one” as keeper Alisson’s clumsy challenge on Willian Jose went unpunished by ref Craig Pawson.
And there was a sickening incident in the closing stages when Wolves keeper Rui Patricio went down for over 10 minutes after Conor Coady’s knee hit his head as they tried to stop a Mo Salah shot.
He was carried off on a stretcher to be replaced by John Ruddy under the concussion protocol.
Wolves striker Raul Jimenez was watching from the stands, having fractured his skull in a similar collision. Jota tested his former manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s love and affection to the limit with a goal on his first trip back to his old stomping ground. The striker grabbed his first goal since November right on the stroke of half-time to rub salt in the wounds for a Wolves side stinging from that first-minute letdown. Nuno said before the game that he’d seek his former charge out and give him a “big hug and a kiss”, adding that Jota would have got a great reception from the Molineux faithful if times had been different. They wouldn’t have been too chuffed when he struck in stoppage time, pouncing at the far post with
an angled shot after good link-up play between Sadio Mane and Salah.
Patricio could have got a stronger hand to it but ended up only helping the ball into the net.
Wolves certainly wasted no time trying to expose Liverpool’s recent frailties and they should have had a spot-kick moments after kick-off.
Alisson really should have caught an Adama Traore cross but dropped it and in his haste to clear up the mess went right through the back of Willian.
Minutes later Traore forced the Brazilian keeper to save low down with a stinging right-foot effort as Liverpool struggled to settle.
Gini Wijnaldum split the home defence with a beautifully weighted through ball to send Mane racing in on goal.
And though the striker succeeded in nicking the ball around Patricio, his second touch was heavy and took him too wide to cash in.
The game was held up for two minutes when Thiago was fortunate not to be booked for a late tackle which poleaxed Joao Moutinho.
Mane should have doubled Liverpool’s lead but was left looking on in disbelief when he sent a diving header wide from eight yards.
Reds defender Nat Phillips made a crucial intervention when he just managed to reach and head away a Nelson Semedo cross which was dropping straight into the path of Jose at the far post.