Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool: Diogo Jota saves the Reds

Diogo Jota saved the Reds in the Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool duel, in which Jürgen Klopp's club barely made it through to the FA Cup semifinals.

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With Firmino, Elliot, and even Oxlade-Chamberlain on the pitch, Klopp had to rely on Jota to get through this match, which on paper looked much easier than it was.

The Tricky Trees put up a fight against the mighty Liverpool, with Davis, Jhonson, Zinckernagel, and Lolley on the pitch, which led to the game being decided until the 78th minute. 

Why didn't Mohamed Salah play?

One of the big questions of the match before kick-off was the absence of Mohamed Salah, which was questioned to Jürgen Klopp in the pre-match press conference.

Faced with the questions, Klopp responded, "He felt his foot again a little bit after the game (against Arsenal), so we have to see what we do with that and besides that, some other details and things like that, so we have to wait." 

Therefore, his absence was to make sure the player was fine and not to overload his body, as the Reds will also face Watford this Saturday. 

Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool: a match that was far from easy

Even before the game kicked off, many people expected the match to be a very winnable one for Klopp's team, and in fact, it was expected that the Reds would give the Tricky Trees a drubbing. 

However, Steve Cooper's side did not put up much of a fight against Klopp's side, but not only that, but Cooper's defense of Spence, Worrall, Tobias Figuereido, and Colback allowed only 7 shots on goal. 

In terms of passing, a huge difference between the two sides was also expected, but just as Liverpool had an 83% pass efficiency rate, Forest had a 69% pass efficiency rate. 

Diogo Jota saves the Reds near the end of the match

From the 9th minute of the match, Jota had already tried to score in the Tricky Trees' goal, when Worrall stopped him impeccably without fouling him. 

In the 28th minute, something similar happened, when Firmino got away from the Forest defenders, but when he tried to poke it in for the treat he missed, and goalkeeper Ethan Horvath disarmed him. 

Horvath also played a starring role in the match, as his goal was under Liverpool's attack several times, but the young keeper managed to prevent more goals from falling. 

Due to Forest's resistance, it wasn't until the 78th minute that the goal was scored, when a tremendous cross from Tsimikas to Diogo Jota sealed the 0-1 for the match.

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