ARNE SLOT’S brave new world suffered a losing start as Crystal Palace clinched the Community Shield on penalties.
Mo Salah, Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott all failed from the spot before Eagles sub Justin Devenny sealed victory for the FA Cup winners.
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It had all looked so dreamy for Liverpool’s new signings – goals from Hugo Ekitike and Jerome Frimpong and an assist from Florian Wirtz – but Palace fought back and bossed the second half.
Ismaila Sarr netted their second equaliser late on, after Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first-half penalty had briefly levelled it.
Liverpool have spent just south of £300million after winning the Premier League by ten clear points last season – but Slot was unable to add a second piece of silverware as his Reds wilted in the intense heat.
And so it was another glorious Wembley outing for Oliver Glasner’s side as the jubilant Palace fans out-sung the Red Army just as their team had outplayed Liverpool in the second half.
In all, five penalties were missed in a chaotic shoot-out – after Mo Salah had ballooned the opening effort, Dean Henderson saved from subs Mac Allister and Elliott.
Unlike many versions of this fixture, it had been a proper match, played at a proper tempo in a proper atmosphere.
Palace fans spent large parts of the match chanting ‘F*** Uefa’ and ‘F*** Marinakis’ as they await Monday’s verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport over their appeal against demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League over a dual ownership technicality.
Evangelos Marinakis’s Forest are the club who would benefit.
Liverpool’s four marquee summer signings – including former Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez – were all in the starting line-up, while Glasner named his FA Cup final starting XI.
After a wonderful summer of sport, football was back in all its snarling malevolence.
Wreaths were laid in tribute to Diogo Jota before Liverpool fans carried out their traditional booing of the National Anthem and then the planned silence for the tragic Portuguese forward was cut short due to a few moronic loudmouths in the Palace end.
The match itself, though, was an enjoyable romp – with Slot’s new boys proving an instant hit.
With just three-and-a-half minutes on the clock, Wirtz got his nimble feet working, twice feeding Ekitike, who cut past Chris Richards and arrowed a low shot past Henderson and inside the far post.
The champions threatened to run amok, five of them stampeding at two Palace defenders on a counter-attack which was botched.
Then came some cute interplay between Frimpong, Wirtz and Ekitike, who added a saucy back-heel into the mix. There was no lack of familiarity about them.
Still, against the torrent of play, Palace equalised. Daichi Kamada released Mateta, who was artfully slide-tackled by keeper Alisson, yet the ball was worked to Ismaila Sarr, who was tripped by an unusually clumsy Virgil Van Dijk.
Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot and Mateta sent Alisson the wrong way.
It took only three minutes for Slot’s men to regain their lead and though this one was a fluke, it began with a brilliant long diagonal from Dominik Szoboszlai, releasing Frimpong down the left.
The flying Dutchman aimed to cross but managed to clear Henderson and saw his effort drop inside the far post.
Soon, Kamada was forced off through injury and replaced by Will Hughes – who skied an effort from a Daniel Munoz centre.
After a thunderous start, the tempo slowed in the sapping heat.
But early in the second half Ekitike fired high and wide from a neat Wirtz cut-back.
Palace rallied strongly, Eze having a shot smartly saved at the near post by Alisson as Glasner’s men forced Liverpool to dig in.
Ekitike was hooked during the second-half water break, Mac Allister on – Slot sending Wirtz and Szoboszlai forward as a pair of false nines.
Wataru Endo arrived in place of Curtis Jones and his first serious involvement was to inadvertently injure Frimpong as he followed through on a clearance.
And then on 77 minutes, Palace got the equaliser their second-half efforts had merited.
Adam Wharton picked out a gorgeous pass which caught Liverpool dozing and Sarr raced on to fire home off the post.
Soon, Palace were screaming for a penalty when Mac Allister handled a high ball into the Liverpool box but VAR wasn’t interested.
Wirtz made way for Elliott but the champions were under the cosh.
Marc Guehi succumbed to cramp late on and his replacement, Devenny fired wide in the dying seconds after an artful Eze pass had located him in space.
But the 21-year-old made no mistake with the pressure fifth penalty for Palace, powering into the top corner to clinch the win.
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