Eze and Palace Deal Liverpool Big Blow to Title Chances with 1-0 Victory

 Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze celebrates with Crystal Palace's Tyrick Mitchell after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Sunday, April 14, 2024. (AP)
Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze celebrates with Crystal Palace's Tyrick Mitchell after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Sunday, April 14, 2024. (AP)
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Eze and Palace Deal Liverpool Big Blow to Title Chances with 1-0 Victory

 Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze celebrates with Crystal Palace's Tyrick Mitchell after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Sunday, April 14, 2024. (AP)
Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze celebrates with Crystal Palace's Tyrick Mitchell after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Sunday, April 14, 2024. (AP)

Liverpool's quest for a Premier League title in manager Juergen Klopp's final season with the team suffered a huge blow with a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace at Anfield on Sunday that left them third in the table.

Eberechi Eze scored in the 14th minute to stun the Anfield faithful in the third consecutive disappointing result for Liverpool. Klopp's men are even on 71 points with second-placed Arsenal, who were playing later on Sunday, and two behind provisional leaders Manchester City.

Tyrick Mitchell found Eze unmarked in the box after some good passing and Eze slotted home with his first touch to put Palace ahead. Poor finishing by Liverpool, including Curtis Jones's shot on a breakaway that he fired wide, secured the win for the visitors.

Liverpool were coming off a 3-0 loss to Atalanta in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday and a costly 2-2 draw with Manchester United in their previous league game on April 7.



Brugge’s Champions League Progress No Surprise to Coach 

Club Brugge's Belgian midfielder #68 Chemsdine Talbi (R) celebrates scoring his team's second goal with Club Brugge's Greek forward #08 Christos Tzolis during the UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off 2nd leg football match between Club Brugge KV and Atalanta at the Stadio di Bergamo in Bergamo on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Club Brugge's Belgian midfielder #68 Chemsdine Talbi (R) celebrates scoring his team's second goal with Club Brugge's Greek forward #08 Christos Tzolis during the UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off 2nd leg football match between Club Brugge KV and Atalanta at the Stadio di Bergamo in Bergamo on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Brugge’s Champions League Progress No Surprise to Coach 

Club Brugge's Belgian midfielder #68 Chemsdine Talbi (R) celebrates scoring his team's second goal with Club Brugge's Greek forward #08 Christos Tzolis during the UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off 2nd leg football match between Club Brugge KV and Atalanta at the Stadio di Bergamo in Bergamo on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Club Brugge's Belgian midfielder #68 Chemsdine Talbi (R) celebrates scoring his team's second goal with Club Brugge's Greek forward #08 Christos Tzolis during the UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off 2nd leg football match between Club Brugge KV and Atalanta at the Stadio di Bergamo in Bergamo on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

Club Brugge's elimination of Serie A side Atalanta in the Champions League playoffs on Tuesday was described as a shock in some quarters but did not surprise their coach Nicky Hayen in the slightest.

The Belgian side held a 2-1 advantage going into the second leg and romped to a 3-0 half-time lead in Italy to put the game beyond last season's Europa League winners.

Atalanta pulled a goal back 35 seconds into the second half but were unable to narrow the deficit further, with Ademola Lookman having a penalty saved by Simon Mignolet on the hour mark.

"We conceded that goal very quickly. Then we were lucky that Simon saved that penalty. We had to survive," said Brugge coach Hayen.

"We knew in advance that the match would turn out like that and we could not put together any attacks. But I´m not going to blame my players. They all put their heads down and everyone did his part."

Brugge were ahead after three minutes through teenager Chemsdine Talbi and he added a second midway through the half before Ferran Jutgla made it 3-0.

"It doesn't surprise me. We have so much quality," Hayen added.

"If you play football with courage and confidence, you can get chances. So I didn't have to pinch myself."

Brugge will meet either Aston Villa or Lille in the last 16.