Alan Shearer has paid tribute to Ibrahima Konate’s opening goal for Liverpool this afternoon.
Liverpool moved into the final of the FA Cup with a 3-2 victory over Manchester City at Wembley.
Konate opened the scoring after only nine minutes by powering a header past City goalkeeper Zack Steffen, rising above Nathan Ake to do so.
This is the French defender’s third goal in as many games following a couple of towering headers in both legs of the Reds’ Champions League quarter-final victory over Benfica this month.
Steffen is the Sky Blues’ second-choice goalkeeper, with Pep Guardiola resting Ederson against Liverpool today.
And Shearer believes that as strong as the £36 million centre-back was in connecting with Andy Robertson’s cross, the Brazilian stopper would’ve saved it.
He told BBC Sport: “Whoever gets in his way just gets bowled over. He gets above Ake there. I think the goalkeeper should do better there. There’s no way that beats Ederson. No way.”
Well, let’s just say there were a number of question marks on the American goalkeeper today.
Liverpool’s second goal, when Sadio Mane’s sliding tackle wound up bundling into the net after Steffen took too much time, will go down as one of the most farcical goals in FA Cup semi-final history.
So for Shearer to question whether he could’ve prevented the first one, well it’s definitely worth another look in light of the Reds’ second goal and honestly, the Newcastle United icon might be right.
There was power on the header, but not much direction and a firm hand just might’ve kept it out.
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