Key events
45 min There will be seven minutes of added time. Wirtz has just been booked for kicking the ball away.
43 min Konate is booked for tripping Mateta to thwart a Palace counter-attack.
39 min It’s been a patchy performance from Liverpool’s refurbished side. To expect anything more at this stage of the season with four new players would be unrealistic. All the new players have had good moments, Ekitike’s emphatic early goal being the pick of them. (Unless Frimpong meant his goal, in which case close the book on the Ballon d’Or.)
36 min Eze’s nice crossfield pass releases Munoz, the ever-willing bullet train on the right. His cross bounces past a couple of players and is hooked over from 15 yards by Hughes. Tough chance.
Munoz is indefatigability personified; so much fun to watch.
33 min Nothing much has happened since the drinks/injury break. It’s a very hot day so occasional longueurs are inevitable.
30 min Szoboszlai pings another nice crossfield pass to Frimpong, this time near the byline. He hooks it back to Wirtz, who miscontrols the bouncing ball. Szoboszlai is enjoying himself in a deeper role.
29 min: Crystal Palace substitution Hughes comes on for Kamada, who is able to walk off but looks a little woebegone. It looks like a muscle injury of some description.
28 min Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada is also down; in fact, Will Hughes is getting ready to replace him.
26 min Alisson comes off his line confidently to claim Wharton’s ball into the area. Ibrahima Konate is on his haunches and has an eye problem; I think he’s motioning that he needs some kind of spray.
24 min Time for a drinks break.
Szoboszlai pinged a Kroosian crossfield pass out to Frimpong. He ran at Mitchell, into the area, and stabbed a chipped cross that looped over Henderson and swerved into the far corner. I assume it was an intended cross; if Frimpong meant to score from there, he’s a genius.
The timing of the goal – 20 mins, 20 seconds – is remarkable: that was the shirt number of Diogo Jota, and Liverpool’s supporters were applauding him when the ball drifted into the net.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool (Frimpong 21)
Another Liverpool new boy scores on his debut!
20 min: Chance for Mitchell Palace’s wing-backs almost combine for a second goal. Munoz gallops down the right and arcs a deep cross over the head of Frimpong. Mitchell, arriving late, screws a difficult volley back across goal and well wide.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Liverpool (Mateta 17 pen)
Jean-Philippe Mateta sweeps the penalty into the net, with Alisson diving the wrong way, and celebrates by high-kicking the corner flag.
15 min: Penalty to Palace! Van Dijk is penalised for a lazy tackle on Sarr just inside the area. Seconds before that, Mateta ran through on goal and tried to go round Alisson, who made an excellent challenge with his feet. They’re now checking both the penalty and whether Mateta was offside for the original chance.
Both are cleared by VAR so the penalty stands.
14 min A gorgeous flick from Ekitike on the halfway line sparks a Liverpool break that ends with Henderson making a good diving save from Gakpo. Turns out Gakpo was fractionally offside, though Henderson didn’t know that.
12 min Eze is pushed over by Konate 25 yards from goal. Mitchell touches the free-kick off to Eze, whose shot deflects behind for another corner. Ekitike heads this one away.
10 min Kamada wriggles into the area and wins Palace’s first corner off Frimpong. Eze takes, Konate heads clear and Liverpool don’t make the most of a four-on-two break.
7 min Fair to say Palace’s gameplan didn’t involve going behind inside four minutes. They’ve started to get on the ball now rather than sit deep and wait for the chance to break.
Hugo Ekitike has scored inside four minutes on his Liverpool debut. It was a fine finish, driven across Henderson from the edge of the area after some neat interplay with Florian Wirtz. Cracking goal.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool (Ekitike 4)
Welcome to Liverpool.
3 min A relaxed and confident start from Liverpool, who have had almost all of the ball in the first few minutes. Palace don’t mind that too much given their counter-attacking prowess.
1 min Crystal Palace, in their snazzy new home strip, kick off from left to right. Liverpool are in their wonder white (sic) change strip.
There was supposed to be a minute’s silence for Diogo Jota. Alas, a minority decided to act up. The mind boggles.
There will be a minute’s silence in memory of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who died tragically last month. Liverpool legend Ian Rush and Palace chairman have also laid wreaths on the Wembley pitch.
A reminder of the teams
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1) Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta.
Subs: Benitez, Lerma, Clyne, Hughes, Edouard, Sosa, Esse, Devenny, Solomon Cardines.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Alisson; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Jones, Szoboszlai; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Endo, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Elliott, Robertson, Nyoni, Doak, Ngumoha.
Referee Chris Kavanagh.
There’s no Ryan Gravenberch in the Liverpool squad today – he became a father last night.
Wirtz named Germany’s player of the year
Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz has been voted Germany’s player of the year for 2024-25 after another standout season at Bayer Leverkusen while Freiburg’s Julian Schuster has won the coach’s accolade. Germany teammates Giulia Gwinn and Ann-Katrin Berger have to share the women’s player of the year award after both received 608 valid votes from members of the Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) in the yearly poll organized by Kicker magazine.
Ed Aarons on Palace’s underwhelming summer (so far)
Palace’s planning has been severely disrupted by the uncertainty surrounding which European competition they will play in. STeve Parish spent most of Friday at the court of arbitration for sport in Switzerland as the club attempt to have their demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League overturned. Oliver Glasner again revealed his frustration during the Austria tour, saying he had been “promised that we would be more active and bring in the new players earlier this year”.
Jonathan Wilson on Liverpool’s transfer business
The thrill of the signings is rooted in the pristine possibility, untarnished by experience, of what they could achieve together, but an inevitable accompaniment to that projection is the possibility of failure. The uncertainty of five new signings allows Liverpool to dream, but it also exposes them to doubt.
Crystal Palace team news
Oliver Glasner picks the same XI that made history by winning the FA Cup final against Manchester City. Their new signings Borna Sosa and Walter Benitez are among the subs.
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1) Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta.
Subs: Benitez, Lerma, Clyne, Hughes, Edouard, Sosa, Esse, Devenny, Solomon Cardines.
Liverpool team news
The four big summer signings all start for the champions. Their new goalkeeper Giorgo Mamaradashvili – whose move from Valencia was arranged last summer – is on the bench.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Alisson; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Jones, Szoboszlai; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Endo, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Elliott, Robertson, Nyoni, Doak, Ngumoha.
Read our Premier League fans’ previews
Liverpool
We’ve made some great signings, raided the Bundesliga for Frimpong, Wirtz and Ekitiké and swooped south for Kerkez, with more to come. Our target is clear then: to finish top again and go further in Europe. And we must try without one of our stars, Diogo Jota, whose loss is immeasurable, of course to his family first and foremost. What he meant to the boss, the team, each individual player and the supporters has been evident in the outpourings of love and respect shown in these past weeks. We won’t forget him and in doing all we can to succeed we will honour his memory.
Preamble
Thank heavens for the Community Shield. In an age of 24/7/365 football – when seasons, competitions and opinions blur into one headache-inducing mass – the role of the Community Shield as the curtain raiser for the new English season is more important than ever.
The reality is more complicated – the EFL kicked off nine days ago – but we’re not here for that or to talk about. We’re here to watch FA Cup winners Crystal Palace meet runaway champions Liverpool on a sweltering afternoon at Wembley.
In different ways, both teams have had difficult summers. Palace were demoted to the Conference League, have barely spent a penny on players and could lose Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze before the transfer window closes.
Liverpool have spent like never before, signing Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong for around £250m. They recouped more than half of that with the sales of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Jarell Quansah and others. But the summer of 2025 will always be remembered for the shocking death of Diogo Jota, aged 28, in a car crash.
Life goes on, football goes on, but today’s game will be played in shadow.
Kick off 3pm.
