In what was the first game at Anfield since manager Jurgen Klopp announced he will be leaving at the end of the season, Liverpool showed no aftereffects by sweeping past Norwich City to reach the FA Cup fifth round.
“The players are professionals,” the German warned in the leadup to the match, and that was certainly the case on Sunday as Liverpool secured a 5-2 victory over the Championship play-off hopefuls.
Liverpool, who are having a great season and currently sit atop the Premier League standings, didn’t take long to open the scoring.
Liverpool score early and often
Curtis Jones netted the opener after just 16 minutes, and Darwin Nunez restored the advantage just before the half hour mark after Ben Gibson had made it 1-1 in the 22nd minute.
Fans pay homage to Klopp
Perhaps most interesting for Reds fans is that the two goals saw youngsters that Klopp brought into the starting XI play a key role: assists from McConnell and Conor Bradley.
Although Norwich put up a fight, the rout was then on in the second half. Jota, van Dijk and Gravenberch (the latter, in the last play of the match) scored the goals for the home team. Spaniard Borja Sainz, formerly of Alaves and Zaragoza, scored Norwich’s goal.
With the result, Liverpool advance to the round of 16 as was predicted by many before kickoff. They will host one of Watford or Southampton after the Championship clubs battled to a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road on Sunday.