Plymouth Argyle star hails keeper after Liverpool heroics

Plymouth Argyle’s player of the match Nikola Katic praised his goalkeeper Conor Hazard’s heroics as they dumped Liverpool out of the FA Cup, revealing he “used to hate” his teammate owing to Old Firm rivalries before the shock 1-0 win.

Katic and Hazard were the standout performers as the Championship’s bottom side eliminated Arne Slot’s Premier League leaders in the fourth-round tie that was ultimately decided by Ryan Hardie’s second-half penalty.

Many of the Plymouth fans at Home Park would have feared the worst when the fourth official’s board showed nine additional minutes at the end of the 90 minutes, but Hazard made a string of excellent saves — in particular from Diogo Jota and Darwin Núñez — to see his side continue their epic run despite their tribulations in English football’s second tier.

“This is why I came here. it is good to get confidence of this win. We did good with the defensive structure and everybody gave their 100%,” Katic said to ITV. “We did what the coach asked from us. That is it.”

“I hated Hazard when I got here because he’s a Celtic guy and I’m a massive Rangers guy, but he gave us this win today.”

Katic played for Rangers in Scotland from 2018 to 2021 before moving on a permanent deal to Zurich in 2022. He joined Plymouth on loan from the Swiss outfit in the January transfer window as they look to stave off relegation to League One.

Miron Muslic, the Plymouth manager, lauded the efforts made by Katic, Hazard and the rest of his players after the result.

“Speechless — and normally they tell me I’m eloquent,” he joked. “Another chapter in Argyle’s history. The desire to defend, it’s Liverpool — they will be on you. But the lads are fantastic.

“It’s a big moment. I think I will only realise that when I leave the stadium tonight, when I get back to my apartment for a quiet moment.

“We also needed a bit of luck, and we had that but I feel we deserve this today. It’s a magical day for us. But we have to go again on Wednesday [against Millwall in the Championship]. We showed a togetherness today. I think we are ready.”