MANCHESTER, England — Dominik Szoboszlai said Liverpool lacked “fighting spirit” in their 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup and said it is “hard to find the words” to sum up his team’s poor performance.

Arne Slot’s side started well at the Etihad but conceded four goals in the space of 20 minutes either side of halftime. It is not the first time this season the Reds have wilted in the face of adversity, having won just two of the 19 games in which they have fallen behind.

It was the heaviest defeat of Arne Slot’s time in charge and Liverpool’s largest margin of defeat since October 2020.

“When you do something and there is no result for it, it makes no sense,” Szoboszlai told TNT Sports.

“We had chances and missed them; we conceded an easy penalty. We lose 4-0. We cannot concede as much as we concede. Nothing else to say.

“It’s hard to win here. After 1-0 down you still believe. At 2-0 down, it’s our own fault to come in at half-time conceding in the last minute another goal. At 2-0 the chances are lower and lower. You come out and want to show we are able to come back and you concede a third one, from then on there is no more chance to come back.

“The fighting spirit wasn’t there enough, the mentality wasn’t there enough. None of us were there to be honest as much as we could. It’s a hard time but we have to stick together. On Wednesday there is another chance but we have to get in our head this is not the season we would like to end.”

Asked why Liverpool were lacking the necessary fight to challenge City, Szoboszlai said: “That’s a good question. I don’t know. It’s hard to find words to be honest. We wanted this one so much. You lose 4-0 at City and it’s not the best.

“We have to forget as much as we can and as soon as we can and just keep on fighting all the time. I always say when we do it and we are winning, when we don’t do it we are losing. You have to fight, work hard, be there for each other and that’s what we are missing sometimes.”

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Szoboszlai’s comments were later put to Slot.

“I should ask him what he means and what period of time,” Slot said. “If he felt it was the whole game, I did not feel this until the moment they scored [to make it] 1-0.

“In that 10, 15 minutes of time [at the start of the second half],” he added, “I missed the fighting spirit … the willingness to win your duel, to be there first, to make it difficult for either a pass or a cross or a finish. That is something we definitely have to do better on Wednesday [against PSG].”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The UConn Huskies men’s basketball team is one win away from reaching their third national championship in the last four years.

The Huskies got to the Final Four after a stunning Elite Eight win over the Duke Blue Devils when Braylon Mullins nailed a long 3-pointer to give them the lead right before the final buzzer. Duke reached the game with a victory over the St. John’s Red Storm.

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Dan Hurley’s wife, Andrea, weighed in on St. John’s fans seemingly rooting against the Huskies as they took on the Michigan State Spartans in the other Sweet 16 matchup on that side of the bracket. It appeared the rivalry between the two schools is alive and well.

“OK, I’m gonna say it. St. John’s fans … When we went to the game, all those St. John’s fans were rooting against us,” Andrea Hurley said on “The Field of 68: After Dark.” “And that just broke my heart. … It’s really sad. … That’s crappy … That was crappy.”

2026 NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT: LAST TIME FINAL FOUR TEAMS MADE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

UConn head coach Dan Hurley talks with a referee during the first half of the Elite Eight NCAA tournament game against Duke in Washington on March 29, 2026. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)

Hurley said she was talking to Rick Pitino’s wife during the Big East Championship and asked her how she did it, seemingly forming a bond with the family over the rival school.She added that she may not have wanted to see the Red Storm in the tournament, but didn’t necessarily want to face the Blue Devils either.

Dan Hurley had praise for his wife earlier in the week after he said she was able to keep players from storming the court after Mullins’ shot went in against Duke. UConn may have received a technical foul for going on the court too early, which may have presented a different conversation from the media going into Final Four.

UConn head coach Dan Hurley speaks during a news conference ahead of the national semifinal NCAA college basketball tournament game against Illinois at the Final Four in Indianapolis on April 2, 2026. (Abbie Parr/AP)

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UConn will take on Illinois in their Final Four matchup. The winner will either play Arizona or Michigan.

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DETROIT — Justin Verlander‘s long-awaited return to Comerica Park as a member of the Detroit Tigers was put on hold Saturday.

Verlander, the major league’s oldest active player at 43, was placed on the 15-day injured list with left hip inflammation. On Sunday night, Verlander was scheduled to make his first start in a Tigers uniform at Detroit’s home park since Aug. 20, 2017.

Verlander was dealt to Houston at the trade deadline that season. He re-signed with Detroit on a one-year, $13 million contract in February after spending last season with San Francisco.

Verlander made 380 starts for Detroit from 2005 to 2017. In his first start this season, Verlander gave up five runs and six hits in 3⅔ innings against Arizona on Monday and took the loss.

RHP Keider Montero was recalled from Triple-A Toledo and is expected to start the finale of a three-game series against St. Louis.