Arne Slot happy as Liverpool see off Southampton to reach Carabao Cup semi-final
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Liverpool boss Arne Slot feared a dramatic late twist at St Mary’s before his side edged into the Carabao Cup semi-finals by holding on for a 2-1 win over managerless Southampton. With the hosts pushing to force a penalty shootout, Reds defender Jarell Quansah appeared to haul down the clean-through Mateus Fernandes just outside the 18-yard box during six minutes of added time.
Referee Simon Hooper waved away passionate appeals from home supporters and, with VAR not in use, the Premier League leaders escaped retrospective action. First-half goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott put Slot’s much-changed team in control of the quarter-final tie before Cameron Archer halved the deficit to set up a tense final half an hour.
“The moment the ball is over the top you’re not nervous but the moment you see two players colliding into each other, you always wonder what the decision might be,” Slot, who was watching from the stands due to a touchline ban, said of Quansah’s challenge.
“In real life, I thought, ‘ooh, he (Hooper) could have made a different choice’. “But then I saw it back and I felt he (Quansah) just used his arm. “For me, it wasn’t a foul but you never know with refereeing decisions, do you?”. Three days since sacking Russell Martin following a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Tottenham, Southampton were seeking to stun the cup holders under the guidance of interim boss Simon Rusk.
Slot’s decision to make eight changes to his starting XI, including leaving captain Virgil van Dijk and top scorer Mohamed Salah out of his matchday squad, looked set to be rewarded with straightforward progression after Nunez and Elliott struck in the space of nine first-half minutes.
