A late Florian Wirtz-inspired flourish gave a convincing look to Liverpool’s margin of victory but Barnsley made their hosts battle for a place in round four. The League One club were a credit as they performed with commitment and ambition at Anfield, but Premier League class always had the edge and ultimately told.
How Dominik Szoboszlai will be grateful for that outcome. The Liverpool midfielder gave his team the lead with a brilliant 30-yard strike only to gift Barnsley a way back with a ridiculous mistake shortly before the interval. Goals from Jeremie Frimpong and substitutes Wirtz and Hugo Ekitiké spared their teammate any further embarrassment.
There were no mid-season mini-breaks for Liverpool’s senior players this year. Arne Slot, as promised, named a strong starting lineup and bench for the third-round tie having learned a painful lesson when doing otherwise at Plymouth last season. He again endured a few scares against lower-league opposition, however.
Conor Hourihane’s League One strugglers started superbly. Barnsley attacked in numbers and, with 29 seconds on the clock, the former Liverpool academy player Adam Phillips floated an inviting cross from the right over the head of Virgil van Dijk. The striker Davis Keillor-Dunn beat Joe Gomez to the delivery and steered a header beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili only to see it smack the face of a post. Frimpong mopped up the loose ball before Barnsley could capitalise. Nathanael Ogbeta also went close with an angled attempt that sailed just over the Liverpool crossbar.
