Liverpool and Arsenal went toe to toe with each other for 90 minutes on Sunday and Ibrahima Konate had the chance to secure the three points. But he was seemingly caught in two minds.
Mikel Arteta’s high-flying Gunners travelled to Merseyside in search of three points and opened the scoring with some poor Liverpool defending on show.
Gabriel Jesus then doubled the visitor’s lead in the 28th minute.
It looked as if Liverpool’s impressive home record was about to come crashing down.
Just before the interval, Mohamed Salah equalised as some intricate play found the menacing Egyptian at the back post.
Liverpool’s loveable Brazilian Roberto Firmino restored faith in the home crowd when he levelled the tie with a header, much to Anfield’s delight.
However, Konate squandered a chance to revive a full-blown comeback against the league leaders to maintain their near impeccable home record against the top English sides.
A mixture of outrageous goalkeeping and Konate’s unsettled thought process kept proceedings at a deadlock right at the end.
It’s fair to say that Konate will not want to be in a high-pressure situation like that again.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s the type of chance that you want to land at the feet of an in-form striker, not one of your central defenders. Especially given the timing.
WATCH: Konate’s injury-time miss for Liverpool against Arsenal
Courtesy of the ‘Inside’ series on Liverpool’s YouTube channel, we are able to see the immediate reactions of those who have just left the field of play.
And those with a sharp eye have picked out a funny interaction between Konate and his boss in this week’s installment.
Klopp can be seen acting out a powerful header in a manner which Konate should have adopted in the dying embers.
All the French international could do at that point was laugh and smile away the pain.
Deep down, we all know how he was feeling.
Among the dismissive smirks from the pair, the 23-year-old defender took to Instagram after the game.
He wrote: “We showed great personality to come back from 2 goals down today. My chance late in the game was a big moment, but unfortunately it just wouldn’t go in. We move on to the next. Thank you Anfield.”
Despite his failure to capitalise on a game-defining moment, his Liverpool compatriots rushed to offer their support.
His central defensive partner Virgil van Dijk commented with a heart emoji, whilst the official Liverpool page showed their support with a clapping hands emoji.
Liverpool icon Ian Rush even praised the defender’s performance, commenting “Quality today”.
Mistakes happen and the Anfield faithful will be hoping that Konate is able to put it all behind him as they enter an integral stage of the 2022/23 campaign.
Liverpool’s final nine games of the season
Jurgen Klopp’s outfit are fighting on the singular front: the Premier League.
Though they are not contending with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City for domestic glory, they face their own battle to end their subpar season on some sort of high.
Up next is the small matter of a trip to Leeds, who will be gunning for all the spoils as they continue to battle it out in an intense relegation battle.
