LONDON — The first trophy of the English season was claimed on Sunday, and in some style, as Chelsea and Liverpool played out a Carabao Cup final for the ages at Wembley (stream a replay on ESPN+). The sides combined to put the ball in the back of the net on four occasions, only for the offside flag to go up after each instance. Yet, despite the theatrics, 120 scoreless minutes passed.
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Edouard Mendy and Caoimhin Kelleher were largely the reason why. They were nothing short of superb, each keeping their team in the contest numerous times. And, in fact, the keepers would determine this final.
Kepa Arrizabalaga was introduced for the shootout, replacing Mendy in the final moments of extra-time. He and Kelleher failed to stop any of the first 20 penalty attempts, but the Liverpool No. 1 converted try no. 21, only for spot-kick specialist Kepa to sky his effort well over the bar to see the Reds win an 11-10 penalty shootout.
So, what can we take from Sunday’s truly epic game? Mark Ogden (Liverpool) and James Olley (Chelsea) break down the contest from both perspectives.
Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp has now won five trophies as Liverpool manager. In three months’ time, he could add three more and create history at the same time by becoming the first English team to achieve a quadruple of Carabao Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League.
At this juncture, with so many games still play, achieving a clean sweep of competitions appears to be a huge challenge, but the Carabao Cup penalty shootout triumph against Chelsea means that Liverpool are already a quarter of the way towards an unprecedented achievement.
Manchester United’s Treble success in 1999, when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team won the league, FA Cup and Champions League, remains the high-water mark in the English game. Liverpool managed their own cup treble in 2001 by winning both…
Source : espn
