Florian Wirtz has Liverpool goal taken away from him as statement released

Liverpool equalised late into their clash against Sunderland with Florian Wirtz believing he had scored it, only to be officially denied his first goal for the club

Florian Wirtz has been brutally denied his first goal for Liverpool after his side's equaliser against Sunderland went down as a Nordi Mukiele own goal. As Liverpool searched for a late goal, Wirtz believed he had finally broken his duck after dancing his way past defenders in the box to fire a deflected shot in.

The goal initially seemed to be given to the German, who perhaps knew his fate, given the muted celebration. Despite cruelly being denied his goal, Wirtz can have no complaints, as the highlight showed his shot was clearly going wide before it deflected off Mukiele.

The Premier League Match Centre officially accredited the goal to the Sunderland defender, meaning the £116million summer signing is still waiting for his first goal.

Their post to X read: "The goal accreditation panel has adjudged Liverpool’s 81st minute goal as a Mukiele own goal." Wirtz, however, was more concerned about the result than having the goal taken off of him.

When told that it went down as an own goal, he said: "Doesn't matter today, we draw and wanted to win today. We were unlucky."

The visitors to Anfield went in front midway through the second half with Chemsdine Talbi on target. Arne Slot's side looked to be heading for a tenth defeat in 14 games but Liverpool found a way back into the clash with Wirtz key.

The Germany international went on a mazy run into the box and was able to get beyond several Sunderland defenders before firing an effort into the back of the net.

Replays later showed there was a hefty touch from Mukiele, which altered the direction of the ball and left Robin Roefs with no chance.

With the goal taken away from him, Wirtz has only been able to provide assists since joining Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen for a staggering £116million. Despite not often directly contributing to goals, Wirtz has been putting in some impressive displays.

He was exceptional in the 2-0 win over West Ham United this past weekend and was one of Liverpool's better players during their disappointing draw on Wednesday night.

After the victory last weekend, Slot reserved special praise for Wirtz but wanted to emphasise how good the team was.

"The team played a very good game," the Liverpool head coach said said.

"Recently I've been asked a lot about individuals when maybe they've played a game not of their usual standards and I've pointed out the team every single time.

"After a very positive performance from Florian, I can acknowledge that but I also want to emphasise the team performance was much better.

"We tried to create an extra midfielder and he was very important for us to find that extra midfielder every time.

"He was good when he made a dribble, he was good with his one-touch passes, he played one ball to Cody, which then doesn't lead to a shot, but we had many of those moments and he was part of many of them.

"Performance staff were constantly telling me 'he needs to go out' because he'd be out for one-and-a-half weeks and had only trained once, so to a certain extent it was maybe a bit of a risk to keep him in the team, but some situations ask for an exception, and today was one of them." The 1-1 draw with Sunderland leaves Liverpool in 8th place in the Premier League, 11 points off leaders Arsenal.