Grovelling Julen Lopetegui limps into press room as West Ham hammering at Liverpool gets worse

West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui bizarrely injured himself in frustration as his team suffered a disheartening 5-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.

The Hammers, having initially taken the lead, fell apart dramatically in the final 16 minutes of Wednesday’s third-round match at Anfield.

Getty

Their collapse was compounded by the sending off of Edson Alvarez shortly after Mohamed Salah made it 3-1 to the hosts.

Before this, Lopetegui believed his side had been the superior team and was incensed that two penalty appeals were dismissed as the visitors put pressure on Liverpool.

West Ham then succumbed to a heavy defeat – Lopetegui’s fourth in seven matches since assuming control – with Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo each scoring twice.

During the late downturn, Lopetegui, in his frustration, stamped the ground and injured himself, subsequently choosing to sit for the remainder of the match.

“I have one little injury in my calf,” he admitted after limping into the room for his post-match press conference.

“I don’t think that we deserve this score. I think that we have been in the match, in a lot of moments, even better than them.

“I prefer not to talk about the referee. It is very clear for me the decisions have been against us and the key decisions.

“But in the end when we had chances to score we didn’t do. To win these kind of matches you have to stay close.

“After the third goal and the red card it was much more difficult. The last part of the match was very bad for us.”

Lopetegui is reported to have left Anfield on crutches.

Getty

In a separate interview, the West Ham boss apologised to the fans.

He added: “We don’t deserve this score because we did a lot of good things. We made a very good first half. They scored an offside goal [and] we suffered the first goal.

“After we had 10 players, they scored more goals. The last 20 minutes, we didn’t manage well. The players made a big effort. We were in the match until this moment despite the referee decision.

“I’m sorry for our fans.”

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, by contrast, could reflect on another satisfactory night.

Slot, who made nine changes for the game, said: “What we’ve shown in the last weeks and today, again, is that we have many quality players.

“What pleased me most is that, even if a lot of new players come in, they don’t come in and try to have a good individual performance. They tried to work really hard for the team.

“I think Diogo deserved it because he has played a lot of good games for us and he’s been important for us in every single game.

“But a striker also wants to score goals, so I’m pleased for him that he scored two.

“And Cody – the way he hits the ball in and around the 18-yard box is with incredible speed, so I’m not surprised him scoring like this.”

Liverpool will face Brighton in the next round of the Carabao Cup.