Lead ultimately lost, Liverpool almost beaten (9)

I believe the answer is:

leathered

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'beaten' is the definition.

'lead ultimately lost liverpool almost' is the wordplay.
'ultimately lost' means to remove the last letter.
'liverpool almost' becomes 'thered' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lead' with its last letter taken away is 'lea'.
'lea'+'thered'='LEATHERED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for leathered that I've seen before include "beaten?" , "Thrashed with a strap" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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