This FA Cup quarter-final was contested by two clubs who, once upon a time, made up English football’s leading competitive rivalry. Liverpool’s hard-earned victory – delivered by a late Diogo Jota goal - has set up its modern day equivalent in the semi-finals, against Manchester City at Wembley next month. Yet a resurgent Nottingham Forest will have ended this breathless tie wondering what might have been.
What if, minutes before Jota’s decisive goal, Philip Zinckernagel had converted the best chance of the game up until that point? What if a contentious late penalty call had gone against Alisson and in favour of Ryan Yates, who had rounded the Liverpool goalkeeper, went to ground and was told to get to his feet? What if Forest had taken the Premier League title contenders to extra time, as had started to seem likely?
