Mo Salah takes the worst penalty of the season for Liverpool against Bournemouth
Mo Salah produced a horrendous penalty miss for Liverpool against Bournemouth in Saturday's early kick-off.
The Reds looked anything like the side who smashed seven past Manchester United on Sunday and found themselves 1-0 down in the first half when Philip Billing took advantage of some lazy Virgil van Dijk defending and slotted home for the second consecutive game.
Jurgen Klopp's men had a glorious opportunity to level matters in the second half after being awarded a spot-kick.
The visitors appealed for handball against Adam Smith, who blocked Diogo Jota's goal-bound header with his arm.
John Brooks went to the VAR screen and gave the penalty, giving Salah, Liverpool's second highest ever goalscorer the chance to add to his 129 goals for the club.
Liverpool win their first #PL penalty of the season…
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) March 11, 2023
However Mo Salah blazes it wide 😱#BOULIVpic.twitter.com/Tm2JxtkC9I
Salah is normally uber reliable from 12 yards but this time he got it very wrong, curling the ball wide with his left foot as he looked to find the top corner after Neto dived in the opposite direction.
The ball ended up in the stands behind the goal, with Salah bringing his hands to his head in disbelief as Roberto Firmino went over to console him.
Incredibly, it was the first penalty Liverpool had been awarded this season - their last coming back in April.
Salah missed a penalty for the third time in his Premier League career but this was the first instance where he had failed to hit the target.
His last spot-kick miss came in a 1-0 defeat against Leicester City in December 2021.
Some fans wondered why James Milner did not step up from 12 yards after being brought on as a substitute at the Vitality Stadium.
Milner has scored 30 out of 35 penalties in his career, including 17/19 in the Premier League to give him an 89% success rate.
Bournemouth held on to claim a huge win which moves them out of the relegation zone, while Liverpool's recent momentum came to a disappointing halt.
They now turn their attentions to the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Real Madrid, who they trail 5-2 from the first leg at Anfield.