Crystal Palace 2-2 Liverpool: Community Shield Player Ratings and Match Highlights

Crystal Palace defeated Liverpool on penalties to win the Community Shield on Sunday afternoon.

It took just four minutes for the first blood to be drawn, and it came in the favour of the Premier League champions. Two of Liverpool's big-money, marquee summer signings, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, combined for the goal, and the big Frenchman slotted his superb finish away with plenty of power and placement right into the bottom corner. Given the power and placement of Ekitike's shot, Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson couldn't possibly do anything to stop it.

The Reds came out absolutely flying in the opening exchanges of the match, showcasing some beautiful, fast-paced football, however, in the 17th minute, Palace equalised from the penalty through Jean-Philippe Mateta after Virgil van Dijk brought down Ismaila Sarr in Liverpool's penalty area. The 2024/2025 FA Cup winners, although they were dominated early in the match, showed that they could cause Liverpool problems, as their penalty came from breaking fast on the counter. Van Dijk clumsily brought down Sarr in the box, and it was a blatant penalty which Mateta successfully slotted home.

After a lightning-fast start to the match, with both sides scoring inside 17 minutes, you would've thought that play would eventually settle down, however, that was not the case, and just four minutes after Palace's equaliser, Liverpool regained their lead. Their second goal was scored by another one of their exciting summer signings, this time their new right back, Jeremie Frimpong. The Dutchman broke down the right flank, and when he moved his way into the box, he looked like he was lofting a cross to the back post, but instead, his delivery went over Henderson and straight into the back of the net. There will be debates about whether Frimpong's goal was intentional or not, but he will not care as he regained his side's lead.

The first half came to a close with Liverpool in a 2-1 lead. Although the Reds dominated possession, Palace ended the half with more attempts on goal, showing that they could cause the Premier League champions huge problems on the counter.

There were plenty of goalscoring opportunities for both sides early in the second half, but the closest and most significant of them all came in the 58th minute after Marc Guehi put a perfect cross into the box and Mateta headed his effort just wide of the target. Just minutes later, Palace got through on goal yet again, but Alisson Becker was equal to Eberechi Eze's attempt from close range.

In the 77th minute, after knocking on the door several times throughout the second half, Palace equalised once again, this time thanks to Ismaila Sarr. Will Hughes won the ball back in midfield, and Sarr was played through on goal, and he slotted a great finish past Alisson. Although it was yet another great counter-attack from Palace, Liverpool's defending was very poor, especially van Dijk's, as he stepped up too high, which enabled Sarr to have a lot of space.

Shortly after the goal, there was controversy as Alexis Mac Allister looked to handle the ball inside his own box, however, both the referee and his VAR team waved it away and didn't award the penalty.

The referee blew his whistle for full-time with the match tied at 2-2, which meant the match would be decided via a penalty shootout.

The first man to step up to take a penalty was Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian, who is usually deadly from 12 yards, skied his penalty over the bar.

After Salah missed Liverpool's first penalty, Alexis Mac Allister stepped up to take the second, and once again it wasn't converted as Dean Henderson produced a great save.

Mac Allister's miss looked to put Palace in a commanding position, but next up to take their next penalty was Eberechi Eze, and the Englishman saw his saved by Alisson Becker.

Harvey Elliott stepped up to take Liverpool's fourth penalty, and once again, it was saved by Henderson, meaning the Premier League champions missed three of their first four penalties.

To win the match, Borna Sosa stepped up for Palace, but his powerful penalty crashed off the crossbar to keep the shootout going longer.

21-year-old Justin Devenny stepped in an attempt to win the shootout for Palace, and he rifled his penalty into the top corner to win his side the Community Shield.

Crystal Palace 2-2 Liverpool - Match Statistics Crystal Palace Statistic Liverpool 41 Possession (%) 59 14 Shots 12 4 Shots on Target 5 5 Corners 2 3 Saves 2 0 Yellow Cards 3

Match Highlights

Crystal Palace Player Ratings

GK: Dean Henderson - 8/10

Only had a few routine saves to make during the match, and he couldn't have really done anything about Liverpool's goals. The Englishman had a great performance in the shootout.

RWB: Daniel Munoz - 7.5/10

Caused real problems down the right flank in an attacking sense, putting some really dangerous crosses into the box. As well as being good going forward, Munoz was also steady defensively.

CB: Chris Richards - 6.5/10

Struggled at times to deal with the pace and physicality of Ekitike, but the American stayed resilient and produced some important blocks and clearances.

CB: Maxence Lacroix - 7/10

Played some good long balls up to Mateta and was solid defensively.

CB: Marc Guehi - 7.5/10

Very good with the ball at his feet and almost managed to produce an excellent assist in the second half.

LWB: Tyrick Mitchell - 7.5/10

Managed to keep Salah fairly quiet. Just like his wing-back counterpart Munoz, Mitchell showed plenty of energy up and down the left flank and worked very hard.

CM: Adam Wharton - 7/10

Uncharacteristically sloppy on the ball at times, but managed to get an assist for Sarr's goal.

CM: Daichi Kamada - 6/10

Substituted after just 29 minutes after suffering an injury.

RW: Ismaila Sarr - 8/10

Terrorised the Liverpool defence on some occasions with his pace and power. As well as putting in a good performance, Sarr scored a great goal in the 77th minute.

ST: Jean-Philippe Mateta - 8/10 (Man of the Match)

Caused the Liverpool back line plenty of problems with his physicality and ability to bring the ball down. The big Frenchman scored from the penalty spot and put in a good, well-rounded performance.

LW: Eberechi Eze - 7/10

A creative threat for Palace. Eze created some decent chances for his teammates and also got himself into some good attacking areas, which threatened the Liverpool back line.

SUB: Will Hughes - 7.5/10

Replaced Kamada very well after being thrown into the match after just 29 minutes. Hughes played a key part in Palace's second goal, winning the ball back off Gakpo and controlled the midfield at times.

SUB: Borna Sosa - N/A

Didn't do much after coming on.

SUB: Jefferson Lerma - N/A

Didn't do much after coming on.

SUB: Justin Devenny - 7.5/10

Went close to scoring in the last minute despite only being on the pitch for a brief amount of time. The youngster scored an excellent winning penalty to secure Palace the Community Shield.

Liverpool Player Ratings

GK: Alisson Becker - 7/10

Made a couple of important saves, but didn't have much to do with the ball at his feet.

RB: Jeremie Frimpong - 8/10

Intentional or not, Frimpong scored an excellent goal, which put his side back in the lead, and he was a constant energetic presence up and down the right flank.

CB: Ibrahima Konate - 7/10

Struggled to deal with the strength and hold-up play of Mateta at times. Although Konate had some shaky moments, he did produce a few important defensive actions.

CB: Virgil van Dijk - 5/10

Gave away a really sloppy, blatant penalty in the first half and struggled to deal with Mateta at times. As well as struggling against Mateta, van Dijk was poor for Palace's second goal, as he stepped up way too high, which gave Sarr plenty of space in the box.

LB: Milos Kerkez - 7/10

Struggled to deal with Palace's attacks down his left flank at times as Munoz and Sarr often doubled up on him. Although this was the case, the Hungarian was great on the ball and showed real promise in the final third.

CM: Curtis Jones - 7.5/10

Had a solid showing in the deep-lying role in the Liverpool midfield. Jones was controlled and composed and finished the match with a 100% passing accuracy.

CM: Dominik Szoboszlai - 7.5/10

Managed to get an assist for Frimpong's goal. Szoboszlai controlled the midfield at times and showcased his passing range, spraying the ball around the pitch with ease.

AM: Florian Wirtz - 8/10

A really good debut performance by the German. Wirtz not only managed to get an assist, but he was also Liverpool's main creative threat and had some really slick moments on the ball.

RW: Mohamed Salah - 6/10

Had nowhere near as much creative influence on the match as he typically does. The Egyptian was mainly kept quiet by Mitchell but had some bright moments late on.

ST: Hugo Ekitike - 8/10

A very good competitive debut for the Reds. Ekitike got off to a flyer, scoring a superb goal after just four minutes and after that, he showed great signs during link-up play as well as threatening with his pace and physicality.

LW: Cody Gakpo - 5.5/10

Didn't influence the match much in the final third and was quite weak, losing the ball to Hughes in the build-up to Palace's second goal.

SUB: Alexis Mac Allister - 6/10

Was arguably fortunate not to have had a penalty given against him. Outside of that one moment, Mac Allister didn't really have much involvement in the match after coming on.

SUB: Wataru Endo - N/A

Didn't do much after coming on.

SUB: Harvey Elliott - N/A

Didn't do much after coming on.

SUB: Andrew Robertson - N/A

Didn't do much after coming on.

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