ISTANBUL: Adrian may never play more than a smattering of games for Liverpool, but he’ll be remembered for his “crazy week.”
The backup goalkeeper turned penalty hero with a save on the final kick of the shootout as Liverpool beat Chelsea to win the Super Cup and kick off a new European season.
After Champions League holder Liverpool and Europa League winner Chelsea finished extra time at 2-2, Adrian made the crucial save with his leg to deny Tammy Abraham and give his team a 5-4 win on penalties in a game which finished after midnight Turkish time on Thursday.
Adrian was signed just nine days before as backup for Alisson, but when the Brazilian injured himself last Friday in the English Premier League opener, he was thrust into the spotlight first as a substitute, then as a Super Cup starter.
“Welcome to Liverpool,” Adrian said. “It’s been a crazy week. I’m really happy for the team, I’m happy to play for Liverpool and happy for the fans.”
The 32-year-old Spanish goalkeeper was a free agent after leaving West Ham, where he didn’t play a single Premier League game last season and last appeared in an FA Cup loss to lowly AFC Wimbledon.
Even before the shootout, Adrian kept Liverpool in the game with a 113th-minute save from Mason Mount to stop Chelsea winning in extra time. Still, he’s expected to relinquish his Liverpool starting spot to Alisson when the Brazilian returns from his calf injury in a few weeks.
Chelsea took the lead in the 36th minute when Christian Pulisic exposed poor positioning by Liverpool right back Joe Gomez to pass for Olivier Giroud to shoot low past Adrian.
Liverpool stormed back after the break, Fabinho’s 48th-minute pass opening up the Chelsea defense and leaving Sadio Mane with an easy finish off Mohamed Salah’s flick.
In extra time, Mane put Liverpool ahead off a Roberto Firmino cross, but Chelsea quickly responded with a penalty from Jorginho.
Stéphanie Frappart became the first female referee to oversee a major men’s European final.
After just six minutes, she denied Liverpool a penalty when Sadio Mane’s overhead kick hit Andreas Christensen’s arm, which seemed to be out of a strictly “natural” position. There was no full review by the video assistant referee system.
Twice Chelsea put the ball into the net through Pulisic and substitute Mount, but Frappart and her assistants ruled both efforts out for clear offsides.
Just as in its 4-0 loss to Manchester United on Sunday, Chelsea played a strong first half before slumping after halftime, but this time its mistakes weren’t nearly as harshly punished.
Frank Lampard’s team tormented Gomez in the opening 45 minutes, drawing him out of position and exploiting the space created. After an early chance for Salah, it was all Chelsea as Pedro hit the bar and Giroud shot at Adrian. Soon after, Pulisic and Giroud combined for the opening goal.
Chelsea emerged after halftime looking disjointed and almost immediately conceded.
After Mane scored, Liverpool nearly followed up with a second as Fabinho fired just wide, then Jordan Henderson forced a save from Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The Chelsea goalkeeper made a spectacular double save to keep Liverpool at bay in the 75th, diverting Virgil van Dijk’s shot onto the bar after substitute Abraham cleared Fabinho’s shot off the line with his first touch of the game.
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Liverpool beats Chelsea on penalties to lift Super Cup
Liverpool beats Chelsea on penalties to lift Super Cup
- Backup goalkeeper Adrian saves final kick of shootout to help Liverpool win Super Cup
Late Guirassy winner for Dortmund trims Bayern’s lead atop Bundesliga
- A fifth consecutive league victory moved Niko Kovac’s side to 48 points
- The Guinean supplied a fine left-footed finish in the 87th minute to ensure it was a winning return
WOLFSBURG, Germany: A late Serous Guirassy winner settled a tense contest in Wolfsburg as Borussia Dortmund prevailed 2-1 on Saturday to provisionally cut Bayern Munich’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to three points.
A fifth consecutive league victory moved Niko Kovac’s side to 48 points, within a victory of erstwhile runaway leaders Bayern, who can restore their six-point cushion with victory at in-form Hoffenheim on Sunday.
After a record-breaking start to the season, the champions are winless in their last two games, giving Dortmund the chance to dream of a first title since 2012 with 13 games to go.
It was not a vintage display by Dortmund, who suffered a blow pre-match with the news that captain Emre Can will be sidelined for another month.
But they ground out victory against a Wolfsburg team who have only won once since the turn of the year thanks to goals by Julian Brandt and Guirassy, each side of a Konstantinos Koulierakis leveller for the hosts.
Max Beier almost put Dortmund ahead in the first half but his effort was deflected by Denis Vavro’s last-ditch block onto the underside of the bar.
But the Wolves failed to heed that warning when a few minutes later Dortmund went ahead.
- Pivotal -
Julian Ryerson’s 38th-minute corner from the left found Brandt at the near post and the Germany international out-leaped substitute Jan Buerger to nod in.
Dortmund’s advantage was erased seven minutes into the second half when Koulierakis chose the perfect moment to score his first goal for Wolfsburg, powering in a header from close range.
With 15th-placed Wolfsburg only a few minutes away from securing a precious point, Dortmund produced a silky winner after Guirassy capped good play by Felix Nmecha and Fabio Silva.
The Guinean supplied a fine left-footed finish in the 87th minute to ensure it was a winning return to his former club for Dortmund coach Kovac.
This also proved a pivotal day in the battle for Bundesliga survival as well as the fight for the coveted top-four places.
St. Pauli, whose last win was before the winter break, hosted fourth-placed Stuttgart, who hadn’t lost in the league since a 5-0 home drubbing by Bayern on December 6.
Daniel Sinani’s clever dummy wrong-footed the Stuttgart defense and the loose ball was lashed in from the edge of the box by Manolis Saliakis for the opener on 35 minutes.
Things got even better for St. Pauli 10 minutes after the break when Sinani slotted home from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 after a VAR review confirmed a handball against Chris Fuehrich.
Stuttgart pulled one back through Jamie Leweling in the last minute but it was too little too late as goal-shy St. Pauli clawed themselves to within touching distance of the teams above them, despite remaining 17th.
St. Pauli’s city rivals Hamburg also picked up a precious three points, winning their first game on the road this season at 2-0 bottom-placed Heidenheim.
Mainz recorded yet another victory, this time a 2-0 win over Augsburg, in their remarkable turnaround under Swiss strategist Urs Fischer, who has guided Mainz from the bottom of the table to 13th in a matter of weeks.
Nadiem Amiri scored both goals from the spot, each side of the interval, to make it four wins in five ahead of a trip to Dortmund next weekend.
Werder Bremen were edged out by a sensational solitary strike by Freiburg’s Jan-Niklas Beste to extend their winless streak to 11 games.
Bremen’s losing run, the longest in the German top flight, resulted in coach Horst Steffen being relieved of his duties last week, with Daniel Thioune replacing him.
