Drama In Wembley As Liverpool Lifts The Carabao Cup

It's being a fantastic evening for Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool Superstars. They've all but written their names in the record books as the winners of the 2021/2022 Carabao cup, after defeating Chelsea 11-10 on penalties. It was a record breaking evening as they also won the trophy for the 9th time.

On the other hand, more woes continued for Chelsea as they lose yet another final on the Wembley turf. Few will argue the fact that perhaps they didnt deserve winning Arsenal in the Fa cup two years back, they did deserve this, albeit because they controlled the tempo of the game.

Chelsea could have been ahead barely ten minutes to kick off when Celsar Azpilcueta, the Chelsea captain squared a neat ball to the legs of the advancing Christian Pulisic, but he couldn't bury the ball after a brilliant save from Caiomhin Kelleher. The young Liverpool goalkeeper who had been trusted to play by the Liverpool coach even though he wasn't quite experienced compared to Alisson Becker, the first choice goalkeeper on the bench who was thought to have been given a rest.

Two minutes later, the reds had a chance of their own, but like Chelsea, the in form Edouard Mendy thwarted Naby Keita's effort into the path of Sadio Mane, who had the simplest of tasks, to shoot into an empty net, but again the goalkeeper got up smartly and denied the Senegalese international.

Mason mount, the Chelsea youngster also missed a glit-edged chance when his volley flew inches wide of the right post. Both teams were forced to settle for a goalless draw going into the HT break. As the two English heavyweights headed down the tunnel it was clear Chelsea were the better team and were guilty of missed chances.

The second half started like the first and Mount again had a wonderful opportunity but his shot came back off the post. Joel Matip thought he'd scored when he riffled a header into the top corner from Mane's header into his path, from a well worked Alexander Arnold free-kick, replays showed there was an offside in the build up and after the intervention of the video Assistant Referee (VAR) the goal was chalked off.

Ninety minutes and there was nothing to separate both sides and they went on to play Extra time. In the first half of extra time, Romelu Lukaku and Kai Havertz thought they had the ball in the back of the net only for their goals to be correctly flagged offside by the linesman.

The second half of extra time wasn't too eventful although, both teams made tactical substitutions with the penalties in the minds of both managers. James Milner, Divock Origi and Harvey Elliott,all came on for Liverpool. Jorginho replaced Kovacic in midfield for Chelsea while the so called penalty specialist Kepa Arrizagalaba replaced Edouard Mendy in goal.

James Milner won the coun toss and Liverpool played first. All five outfield players of both teams dispatched their penalties with aplomb, and it was a case of first loser when the penalties continued. Shockingly, the highly praised penalty specialist for Chelsea wasn't able to save any of the next five penalties he faced, neither was the young Kelleher as the penalties stood at 10-10. It then fell upon the goalkeepers for an all important decider.

Kelleher stepped up and made no mistakes from the spot as he coolly dispatched his penalty, it was then over to Kepa, he then sent the whole liverpool faithful into wild celebrations by failing to convert as he blasted his attempt high over the bar and into the stands.

Chelsea returned to Stamford bridge having lost three successive finals at Wembley, first Arsenal, next Leicester and now Liverpool. For the reds it was their first trophy 🏆🥇 of the season. One down, three more to go, as they still remain in the FA cup, Premier league - waiting to pounce on an error from Manchester City, six points behind with a game in hand and of course also I the UEFA Champions League where they hold a 2-0 1st leg aggregate score over Inter Milan ahead of their next week Second leg tie at Anfield.

lead Image: AFP, France.

TOPICS: FOOTBALL, CARABAO CUP.
WRITER: MICHAELBCH
DATE: 1st of March, 2022

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