Diogo Jota was left to rue LIverpool's second-half showing against Manchester City following their 4-1 defeat.
The Reds made a losing return following the international break and, as a result of the afternoon matches in the Premier League, they slipped to eighth.
Mohamed Salah fired Jurgen Klopp's side in front but the City bit back through Julian Alvarez. Kevin De Bruyne kickstarted a miserable second 45 for the visitors, handing Pep Guardiola's men the lead for the first time immediately after the restart.
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Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish then completed the scoring as City continued to keep the pressure on league leaders Arsenal, who are next in action at Anfield on Sunday week.
Before then, Liverpool on Tuesday head to Chelsea, where they will look to bounce back from the loss to the defending Premier League champions.
And Jota, who started for Liverpool and set up Salah for his 12th Premier League goal of the season, described the restart for the second-half as "decisive" in their ninth defeat of the campaign.
"The decisive moment was the beginning of the second half when they scored two goals very quick and swung the balance in their favour," the Portuguese told Viaplay Fotball after the match. "We scored first, we could've managed the game better, it is what it is and with that second half, we let them take the game and the three points.
"It's hard to explain, even in the second goal I believe we won the ball so we pressed well but we lost the ball straight away and they found us unbalanced and they were able to score. At this stage of the season, when we concede first, the team is disbelieving (sic) in what we do, then they are fighting for the title, they are full of confidence and they built the result on that."
"It's hard but it's also our job to try and do our best," added Jota on the targets until the end of the season. "We're not fighting for anything brilliant this season but we still have a lot of games to go so we have to grab the maximum points possible and get the best qualification possible."
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