Liverpool won the Carabao Cup on Sunday after defeating Chelsea 1-0 in the last seconds of extra time during a thrilling match at Wembley Stadium, signaling the beginning of the end of manager Jürgen Klopp’s tenure at the club.
There is stress in every cup final, but for Liverpool, the stakes were larger than merely taking home a trophy, especially because the team is looking to send manager Jurgen Klopp out with four titles in his final season in command and its starting lineup is severely injured.
And as both sides’ missed opportunities mounted,
including one disallowed goal each, the tension increased. Ultimately, Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher made a number of incredible, jumbled saves as the clock approached the red zone, forcing extra time. With barely three minutes of extra time left, captain and one of Liverpool’s most seasoned players, Virgil van Dijk, broke the scoreless draw 0-0. Nevertheless, a number of young players—to whom Van Dijk quickly expressed gratitude during the game—were primarily responsible for the Reds’ success.
“Every young boy on the field during overtime.” “I’m proud of the team; it’s amazing,” he said to the Sky Sports announcer. “They had opportunities, we had opportunities, amazing, first cup as a Liverpool captain. It was a tense game for both teams.” Both teams had a cautious start, hampered by the pressure of competing in a cup final. In the first 10 minutes, Liverpool appeared to settle in the fastest, winning two free kicks in potentially dangerous situations that eventually resulted in nothing.
Despite this, Chelsea had the first chance to score and were only prevented from doing so by Kelleher’s incredible goalkeeping, as he pushed himself in front of Cole Palmer’s attempt that was heading straight for the net, and Wataru Endo managed to clear the rebound as well. This was the very first of nine stops that Kelleher made to keep his side in the game, according to Sports. Liverpool’s choices became even more limited when Ryan Gravenberch was injured in the 25th minute as a result of a challenge from Moises Caicedo. An enraged Klopp was forced to rearrange his team’s lineup as he argued with the referee.
After a sweeping play involving Nicolas Jackson,
Raheem Sterling scored for Chelsea less than ten minutes later. However, Jackson was judged offside during the build-up, and the goal was disallowed. Subsequently, with the score being 0-0 at the interval, Van Dijk appeared to have given Liverpool the advantage. When he headed the ball in from a free kick, setting up raucous celebrations both on and off the field.
However, Endo’s goal was also nullified because the video assistant referee (VAR) determined that he was offside and that he had prevented defender Levi Colwell from getting to Van Dijk. Both teams had a total of 31 shots on goal in normal time. According to Opta, as the game grew more tense as the clock approached 90 minutes. But the score stayed goalless for some reason.
The Carabao Cup final had the most youngsters playing for a single club since 2007. Klopp used his youthful replacements. Including 18-year-old Jayden Danns, 19-year-old James McConnell, and 19-year-old Bobby Clark, in an effort to keep Liverpool from wearing out. Five of Liverpool’s players on the field at the end of the match were under 21.
Twelve more efforts were taken by Chelsea and Liverpool in extra time. But the game-winning goal came from Van Dijk’s header from a corner by Kostas Tsimikas. As fans tossed red flares onto the field to commemorate the winning of another trophy during Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool. He collapsed to the ground and was surrounded by his colleagues.
The Reds’ goal to win four trophies
This season began with that. It is presently leading the English Premier League. Has a Europa League quarterfinal matchup against Sparta Prague. And an FA Cup fifth-round matchup with Southampton.
Blog By:- EXPERTSADAR
