Marco Silva makes 'lucky' Liverpool and Anfield crowd claims after Fulham's semi-final loss

Marco Silva rued Fulham's lapse of concentration as they suffered Anfield déjà vu against Liverpool.

The Cottagers lost 4-3 to the Reds when the two sides met in the Premier League last month - having held the lead with five minutes remaining before Jurgen Klopp's side scored twice in as many minutes.

And the west London outfit left Merseyside feeling exactly the same following their 2-1 Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg loss. Fulham took the lead in the 19th minute through Willian and Liverpool mustered a dearth of goalscoring chances in the first half. But they hit back after the break, with substitutes Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo having a marked impact. Curtis Jones equalised for Jurgen Klopp's troops with a deflected effort in the 68th minute and less than three minutes later, Gakpo put the Reds in the driving seat ahead of the reverse meeting at Craven Cottage in two weeks.

Silva told of his frustration having warned his Fulham troops about how the Anfield crowd can get on top of the opposition if given a scent of hope. But the Cottagers boss insisted the tie is still all to play for in the second leg.

“It’s still tight”, Silva said via the Evening Standard. “We lost the first half [of the tie]. We have to go for it in the second half. That’s clear. We were ruthless. The first chance, a really good moment from Willian and we scored.

“It’s a big frustration. We spoke about it beforehand. We know what happens with these types of sides and these types of crowds.

“They [Liverpool] scored a bit of a lucky goal, the first one, that changed the game. We then lost a little bit the maturity in that moment. We gave them a lot of space for the second goal.

“We definitely have something to play for. That’s clear. We know what Liverpool are capable of doing. Both teams are without some key players. After a tough game against Chelsea we have all the time to prepare for a tough second leg. We are are going to be at home. We have our ambition to be at Wembley. We are going to fight for what we want.”