**Liverpool’s latest FA Cup journey began with a clinical win over Barnsley.**
Dominik Szoboszlai put the Premier League champions in the lead on nine minutes with a superb strike into the top corner from outside the penalty area.
Arne Slot’s side extended their advantage later in the half from a well-taken effort by Jeremie Frimpong, who cut inside and angled a left-footed shot.
But the visitors soon halved their deficit as ex-Reds academy prospect Adam Phillips capitalised on a sloppy Szoboszlai mistake to bundle the ball home.
Florian Wirtz put the tie beyond the League One outfit’s reach in the closing stages with a curling effort after Hugo Ekitike backheeled Curtis Jones’ pass.
In almost the last kick of the game, the Germany international returned the compliment by providing an assist for Ekitike to meet at The Kop’s far post.
The Reds will now host Brighton & Hove Albion in February’s fourth round.
_Here were the key talking points from Anfield:_
Slot right to avoid second sting
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Last season’s premature FA Cup exit taught Arne Slot a valuable lesson.
Liverpool bowed out with barely a whimper in their fourth round tie against a Plymouth Argyle team well on their way to demotion from The Championship.
Slot chose a squad light on senior experience at Home Park and paid the price by enduring one of the tournament’s biggest shocks in recent times.
The Dutchman vowed that he would not make the same mistake when hosting an opponent just one place beneath the Pilgrims in League One.
An experienced starting XI featuring no fewer than six regular starters was bolstered by a bench laden with quality which Barnsley could only dream of.
But Conor Hourihane’s men were still able to go toe to toe with the side separated from them by 57 positions in the English football pyramid.
Given the Tykes were also unbeaten on their previous three visits to Anfield, Slot’s refusal to be stung again in the FA Cup was definitely a prudent move.
Another humiliation for his Premier League champions would have been a fresh nadir in a campaign that has already seen them suffer plenty of them.
Nearly man gets his moment
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Barnsley’s latest trip to Merseyside had added significance for two players in the line-up who, had fate decided otherwise, could have played against them.
Adam Phillips and Vimal Yoganathan both began their professional careers on the books at Liverpool’s esteemed centre of excellence in Kirkby.
Yoganathan was a ball boy here on the afternoon that Divock Origi scored [one of the latest and most memorable Merseyside derby winners](https://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/liverpool-fc/30475-liverpool-1-0-everton-four-things-we-learned-divock-origi-andre-gomes-jurgen-klopp-virgil-van-dijk-marco-silva-premier-league-barcelona/) in 2018.
Phillips, meanwhile, enjoyed a brief taste of life in the first team when he was drafted into the squad for a pre-season tour of the United States in 2014.
Rubbing shoulders with Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho stood him in good stead for teeing up Davis Keillor-Dunn’s effort that hit the post early on.
The Oakwell stalwart went one better to halve his side’s deficit by seizing on Dominik Szoboszlai’s bizarre backheel before scoring in front of The Kop.
He may have ultimately failed to make the grade at Anfield but Phillips at least can pride in a scrapbook moment which will be forever ingrained in history.
Reds lean into redemption arc
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Szoboszlai’s uncharacteristic error invariably dominated the headlines from this encounter but the bigger story should be how he more than atoned for it.
Whether down to misplaced confidence or complacency, his penalty area blunder is one which the Hungary internaitonal will struggle to live down.
Still, Szoboszlai has enough credit in the bank both from his opener and as one of Liverpool’s unstinting performers in this most fraught of seasons.
His recovery in the second half illustrated those qualities as he shifted into a semi-familiar role deputising at full-back as Slot prepare to ring the changes.
When Reyes Cleary went to ground following Szoboszlai’s challenge, replays showed that the stand-in midfielder had timed his ball interception perfectly.
At the other end, he produced several sublime deliveries that should have extended the advantage further only for Florian Wirtz to fluff his lines.
The German, too, leaned into the redemption arc later in the game by sweeping home the game’s third before teeing up Hugo Ekitike at the death.
Proof, were it needed, that missteps do not define Liverpool’s creative outlets.