A look at how the national media reacted to Liverpool's 3-1 win over Wolves in the FA Cup on Friday night
WOLVERHAMPTON ENGLAND - MARCH 6: Andrew Robertson of Liverpool celebrates with teammates Rio Ngumoha and Joe Gomez after scoring the opening goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool on March 6 2026 in Wolverhampton England. (Photo by Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)(Image: Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
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Liverpool can sit back with their feet up as the rest of their potential FA Cup opponents scrap it out this weekend to join them in the quarter-finals.
The Reds put aside the disappointment of Tuesday night's 2-1 loss to Wolves in the Premier League by swatting them 3-1 to move into the last eight of the Cup on Friday night.
Goals that were 95 seconds apart in the second period, from Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah, gave the visitors firm control before Curtis Jones sealed it late on.
The ECHO, of course, was at Molineux once more to run the rule over proceedings. You can read our big-match verdict, the player ratings, the on-the-whistle report and the considered analysis all here on our dedicated Liverpool FC pages. The reactions of Arne Slot and RobEdwards were also covered and this was how it all unfolded live.
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Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to give their own takes on the win for Arne Slot's men. Here is what they made of it on the night.
Rich Jolly, writing in The Independent, says: "Twice in four days, Molineux has had first-hand evidence of Mohamed Salah’s decline. But twice, too, proof that even in his dotage Salah remains motivated by goals; that, when ageing legs can get him into the position, he can find the net. Liverpool have had a mixed week in Wolverhampton, but Salah, who has scored in a Premier League defeat and now an FA Cup win, has had a productive one.
"The inconvenient reality may be that he was otherwise ineffective, but his 254th Liverpool goal took them a step closer to Wembley. For a player whose lone FA Cup final was curtailed by injury, there may be unfinished business in this competition.
"And yet, if Liverpool were propelled into the quarter-finals by a veteran left-footer who may be in the last months of his time at Anfield, it was not Salah but Andy Robertson, just as their outstanding winger of the night was not the 33-year-old but the boy barely half his age: Rio Ngumoha.
"Robertson has reacted better to his demotion this season than Salah did in the autumn. An Anfield great has been limited to five league starts. Unleashed in the FA Cup, he illustrated why he ranked among the finest attacking left-backs of his generation, delivering a goal and an assist in two minutes."
Over on the pages of the Daily Mail, Dominic King reflects: "Much to Arne Slot’s immense relief, however, the result was anything but the same. As was the case on Tuesday, Liverpool had plenty of the ball and had Wolves hemmed in their own half for much of the contest but, this time, plenty of goals followed; there would be no second calamity.
"Slot hasn’t had a surfeit of comfortable evenings in this lopsided campaign but how this result was welcome, as Liverpool flattened inferior opponents in the clinical, professional manner that had been anticipated 72 hours earlier.
"‘This isn’t tough to take,’ Wolves boss Rob Edwards said. ‘The better team won.’
"Still, Slot was thankful, though, to a man who, six weeks, looked like his days at Liverpool player were over: Andrew Robertson has struggled with his lack of minutes this season, so much so that he was prepared top join Tottenham in January, but he made up for it here.
"Robertson is a keen golfer and the left-footed shot he dispatched in the 52nd minute was struck with the purity of a drive that fizzes out the middle of a club and bounds down a fairway. There looked to be some anger behind it and his wide-eyed stare, as others celebrated, spoke volumes."
On The Mirror, Daniel Marsh writes: "We already know Liverpool will not be ending the season as champions again. But they knew they could still end the season with a trophy or two, depending on results here and against Galatasaray over the next week-and-a-half or so.
"This win here keeps Liverpool alive in the FA Cup and winning the most famous cup competition in the world, along with finishing in the top-four, would salvage what has been a difficult second campaign for Slot. Thankfully for Liverpool, there is still plenty to play for.
"As far as bright sparks go for Liverpool, it's hard to look past Ngumoha. The prodigious attacker looked by the far the most likely player in a red shirt to make something happen for large parts of the game, outdoing Cody Gakpo and Salah in the first half.
"At the age of just 17, Ngumoha's end product will fluctuate and there were moments where the final moment didn't quite match the fancy footwork which wouldn't look out of place on a Saturday night on the BBC, but he made things happen - even when he was doubled up on at times with Wolves' back five.
"It's clear to see why fans are desperate to see more and more of the talented teenager. And while nobody will want to put too much on the young man's shoulders too soon, Cody Gakpo's less than stellar form on the left prong of Liverpool's attack could mean we see more and more of Ngumoha before the end of the season..."
And last by no means least, Ian's Doyle's ECHO verdict reads: "Some things old and something new ensured Arne Slot wasn’t left feeling blue at the end of another testing week for Liverpool.
"And while veteran campaigners Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah ultimately steered the Reds on course for the FA Cup quarter-finals, it was 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha who was the catalyst for a victory that will give Liverpool renewed hope a difficult season can still end with silverware.
"The genie is now very much out of the bottle regards Ngumoha, Slot surely no longer able to hold back the winger from continuing the progress that saw him the Reds’ stellar performer as they responded to Tuesday’s shock Premier League loss at rock-bottom Wolves.
"From his very first involvement, there was a sense of excitement and urgency that was sorely lacking from much of Liverpool’s efforts at Molineux three days earlier."