DFB star missed victory in the Community Shield with Liverpool

Bottle in the Community Shield

Dramatic defeat: Wirtz missed the first title with Liverpool

Bayer Leverkusen’s new addition to Crystal Palace can be distinguished early. But then a thriller develops.

For Florian Wirtz, the “adventure of England” started with a disappointment. A few hours after his freestyle to “Germany’s footballer of the year 2025”, the midfield star missed his first title win with the Reds in his first competitive game with the English master FC Liverpool in the Community Shield in the penalty shootout against FA Cup winner Cupstal Palace. The team of the 22-year-old ex-Leverkusener, which had not gone beyond a 2: 2 against the team of the former Bundesliga coach Oliver Glasner in 90 minutes, has to wait for his 17th supercup success in 90 minutes against the team of the former Bundesliga coach Oliver Glasner.

In the Reds, the other, in addition to Wirtz, also underlined their ambitions in addition to Wirtz to the Hugo Ekitiké and Jeremie Frimpong in London’s Wembley Stadium. Thanks to the goals of the former Frankfurter Ekitiké (4th) at the presentation of Wirtz and Frimpong (21st), the Liverpools team manager Arne Slot also seemed on the road to success in high summer temperatures. But Crystal Palace equalized twice through Jean-Philippe Mateta (17th, penalty) and Ismaila Sarr (77th) and forced the penalty shootout, in which goalkeeper Dean Henderson in particular became a match winner of the outsider.

Wirtz set signs from the first minute of the game and was not by chance pioneers of Liverpool’s first lead. In the period that followed, the international confirmed his good impressions from the master’s preparatory games and repeatedly conjured up dangerous situations in the opposing penalty area. Shortly after the second goal for Liverpool, Slot took out his new playmaker, who, like his initially superior team, dismantled with increasing playing time.

Even before the game started, the Liverpool fans’ remembrance at the Reds striker Diogo Jota, who had died in early July, had caused emotional moments. Many of the more than 30,000 Liverpool supporters in the “Mecca of Football” kept transparent in memory of the Portuguese international, on both video scenes of the legendary arena the stadium line to the club anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” showed a picture of the 28-year-old in front of a silent.