Virgil van Dijk was again at fault as Tani Oluwaseyi scored a late consolation for Villarreal in the 87th minute, reducing the deficit to 4-3 in the Champions League at Anfield.
The ball was played to the back post, where Oluwaseyi was waiting to sidefoot home a tidy finish after the Liverpool captain failed to step up and play the offside trap.
Van Dijk kept the Villarreal forward onside, allowing the goal that made the final score 4-3 despite Liverpool’s earlier recovery from a two-goal deficit.
The concession came after Liverpool had scored four times through Alexis Mac Allister (twice), Ronald Araujo and Florian Wirtz to overturn the early goals from Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona.
With the match seemingly under control, the hosts were caught out by the late delivery, and the failure to hold the line left Oluwaseyi free to convert.
It marked the third occasion in the game in which van Dijk was involved in a defensive breakdown that led to a Villarreal goal, following the errors that contributed to the two first-half strikes.