Liverpool again needed stoppage time to secure victory as Hannibal Mejbri’s handball gave Mohamed Salah the chance to strike a late spot-kick and hand Burnley a cruel 1-0 defeat.
With the Premier League champions without Alexander Isak, who needs more training time to get back to full fitness, Arne Slot’s Premier League champions were heading to a wasteful draw.
They failed to score from 26 shots with around 80 per cent possession – until they were literally handed the win in stoppage time.
After Lesley Ugochukwu’s red card for two bookings, former Manchester United midfielder Hannibal raised his hands needlessly in the area to block a cross, leaving referee Michael Oliver no choice but to point to the spot.
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Liverpool find late winner after penalty disaster for Burnley.
“It’s not as if Hannibal’s unlucky. It’s madness,” said Sky Sports’ Roy keane. “It’s cost them a point. And a point would have felt like a win!”
Salah, who did not have a shot for the entire game, stepped up to emphatically crash the ball into the top corner.
The goal kept Liverpool at the top of the table as the only team with a 100 per cent record – and Slot’s side have extended their scoring record to 38 games. But only just.
Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri could not believe his eyes
Keane: Liverpool lacked quality – but that’s what top teams do
Sky Sports’ Roy Keane:
“They keep going. They’ve got quality players and they have desire to win football matches. They’ve got good options off the bench as we’ve found out in a few of their games.
“Burnley showed a lot of grit but Liverpool deserved to win the game by the way they dominated.
“Liverpool lacked quality, their final pass was so off today – but we were sitting there thinking they would get one more chance.
“And with Burnley, there’s a bit of madness at the end just like at Old Trafford. When you come up, you have got to give yourself a bit of a chance. So this does knock them.
“Liverpool stuck at it, you have to keep going until the end. That’s what the top teams do.”
Slot on how Liverpool broke Burnley down
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot to Sky Sports:
“It wasn’t a game where we created a lot of chances, which is hard when you’re playing with 11 players in their 18-yard box. And when you don’t score, their belief only goes up and up again.
“We wore them down, we kept on playing and moved the ball around. We didn’t create a lot of chances but they got more and more tired, which is normal when you have to defend for 80 per cent of the time.
“We brought in as many attackers as we could and that led to a good chance for Jeremie Frimpong, then to the penalty.
“That final third was occupied by a lot and a lot of players. There are a few ways to score a goal – a set-piece, transition moment or something from open play. But scoring from open play against the amount of players they had defending their 18-yard box is not as easy as some people think, no matter how much quality you have.”
Parker defends playing style after a ‘heartbreaking’ loss
Burnley head coach Scott Parker to Sky Sports:
“At times, we survived like our life depended on it today and I think we knew we had to give that.
“I think the deciding factor for me is [how we were] everything we set out to be today. The players, I’m immensely proud of them really. The game ends in a real heartbreaking way for us, but it is what it is.
“We knew what we needed to be, and I think you see that in certain moments of the game. You open the pitch up to this team, and they’re probably one of the best in the world in terms of exploiting that.
“We were never going to give them that space. We needed to deny space, and it was critical for us. We did deny them space and we defended very well. We’re trying to get a result, and we’re trying to survive.
“My team today, they epitomise spirit. They epitomise every bit of what I asked of them and that’s exactly why I try and ingrain in these players every single day.
“I stood on that sideline immensely proud of this group. When they needed to dig, and when I say dig, that dig was practically 90 minutes. We needed to survive in certain moments. Sometimes you need to search for places right deep somewhere and my players did that to a man.”
What did Parker think of the penalty?
“I came into this interview room not wanting to mention or not wanting to speak about the penalty decision,” said Parker. “It’s handball. In the law of it, it’s handball.
“I know he’s five yards away, and the hands outside the body in his arm. We’ll have to probably change, and we are changing it. You’re seeing a change of technique in defending now. You’ve got to put your arms behind your back to defend things.
“I know in desperation at certain moments – like I said, this one today is your body action. He’s turning. His arm’s now gone out, and you see his arm from five yards, the ball coming at probably 80 miles an hour. Then it’s hit it.
“The only learning from it for Hannibal is maybe we’ll have to probably train with keeping your arms behind your back, which is a different technique to defending now but I think it’s something we probably need to be aware of and certainly something we need to develop.”
