London: Considering this game had remained a stalemate even after extra time had been played, it turned into a nail-biter by the end, after a dramatic penalty shootout.
Quite unusually, it took 22 shots from the spot kick to produce the result with Liverpool lifting the EFL Cup for the first time in a decade, beating Chelsea 11-10 on penalties.
Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp said: “I’m happy for the people in dark and difficult times (with the situation in Ukraine) to celebrate things like this. I’m really happy. Happy for us because it’s the first time for this group (to win the League Cup) but the ninth time for the club.”
The winning spot kick came from Liverpool’s No 2 goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after his ten team-mates had taken their turn. Klopp said about him: “It’s been quite a journey for the boy I first saw to the man he is now. The development is top class. The game he played tonight was absolutely incredible. He made two incredible saves – maybe more.”
The match was a story of missed chances and disallowed goals. For Chelsea, Mason Mount missed two golden opportunities when he fired wide from point-blank range and then hit the base of a post five minutes after halftime. Christian Pulisic missed one from five yards in the sixth minute from a cross by Cesar Azpilicueta and there were four goals disallowed – three for Chelsea and one for Liverpool.
Romelu Lukaku came on as substitute in the 73rd minute and looked onside when he found the net with a firm drive only for VAR to show him marginally offside.
Liverpool should have scored in the 30th minute but Edouard Mendy – who made two double saves, the second of which just five minutes before end of normal time – dived to save a shot from Naby Keita and from the rebound Sadio Mane incredibly shot over the bar.
Nine minutes later Pulisic shot straight at the goalkeeper from close range when he had the entire goal facing him and what looked like a fine Liverpool ‘goal’ was disallowed in the 67th minute from a header by Joel Matip with VAR finding Virgil Van Dijk offside.
After nearly three hours on the pitch, including stoppage and extra time and penalties, this memorable match ended with Kepa, Chelsea’s No 2 goalkeeper, who was brought on in the last minute of extra time specifically for the penalties, blasting the 22nd spot kick 15 feet over the bar.
Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel said: “I feel bad for him, but no blame. We took the decision. If you have to blame anyone, blame me. The players know how good he is. We did it before with Kepa, he is slightly better in penalty- saving and that is why I made the decision. Unfortunately, he could not save any, it was a bit harsh on him to miss the one and only penalty.”
He added: “We have to accept the quality of the opponent. This is the most dangerous attacking side in Europe. Defending and playing like this made me very proud today. I felt we created a bit more. This game could have gone either way. You need a bit of luck.”
