LONDON, UK – Sunday’s Carabao Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley was one for the ages, as the two sides battled to a pulsating 2-2 draw. The teams cooperated four times to score goals, but each time the offside flag was raised after the goal was scored. Despite the showmanship, 120 minutes went without a single goal being scored.
Because of Edouard Mendy and Caoimhin Kelleher. They were outstanding, securing countless victories for their squads thanks to their heroics. In actuality, the winner would be decided by the keeper.
When extra-time expired, Kepa Arrizabalaga was brought in to replace Mendy. It was the Liverpool goalkeeper who converted try number 21, but spot-kick expert Kepa blasted his effort over the bar to give the Reds an 11-10 victory in the shootout.
Having said that, what can we take away from Sunday’s genuinely fantastic game? From the viewpoint of Liverpool and Chelsea, Mark Ogden and James Olley go down the match.
Liverpool
As Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp has won five titles. This season, he has the opportunity to make English football history by winning the Carabao Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League in three months’ time.
After so many games remaining, a clean sweep of all competitions looks impossible, but Liverpool’s penalty shootout victory over Chelsea means they are now one-quarter of the way there.
One of the greatest sporting achievements in English history is unquestionably the 1999 triple won by Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson. Even though Liverpool and Manchester City both won cup trebles in 2001 with domestic cup victories and the European Cup, no team has ever come close to a quadruple.
However, after defeating Chelsea to win the Carabao Cup for a record eighth time, Liverpool now have the potential to do so.
Liverpool unquestionably benefited from a lack of quality competition. Before Mason Mount struck the post in the second half, Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount both squandered great opportunities to score for Chelsea. Despite camera replays showing Romelu Lukaku seemed to be onside, two goals by Kai Havertz were ruled out because of offsides.
Despite Chelsea’s chances and Liverpool’s own inability to generate enough chances, the Reds nevertheless managed to snatch the cup. There are three other contests they may win, too.
Even though Liverpool are now six points behind of Manchester City in the Premier League, the Reds still have one game in hand and a trip to the Etihad Stadium in April to look forward to. Liverpool’s chances of winning the Premier League are slim, but they have at least re-established themselves as a serious contender.
The FA Cup fifth-round tie between Liverpool and Norwich City will be shown live on ESPN+ on Wednesday (3 p.m. ET). They will be three wins away from their first FA Cup win since 2006 if they win this.
Then there’s the Champions League, which Liverpool has won more than any other English team, with six triumphs. In the second leg of their round-of-16 second leg against Internazionale on March 8, Liverpool will be confident that they can beat any of the other teams left in the draw for the quarterfinals. Liverpool feels confident in their ability to repeat as Champions League champions this year since they have shown they can do it in the past.
Though luck will be required, both in terms of the outcomes and the fitness of important players, winning all four trophies will be possible. This season has been a good one for Liverpool in that regard. In January, they signed winger Luis Diaz to their roster and have had few major injuries.
Diogo Jota and Diaz have already made an impression, and Jota’s goals and assists continue to excite. Kelleher also made a number of crucial stops in Chelsea’s game to underline his worth as Alisson’s understudy.
Liverpool are capable of challenging for all four titles because of their depth. After winning the Carabao Cup, they have three months to win three further trophies and create history, even if City stands in their way.
In the words of Mark Ogden:
Chelsea
If anything can be said about Kepa in this situation, it’s that he kept up his tradition of making penalty shootout decisions.
Despite the fact that Kepa’s choice to shoot the 22nd and final penalty over the crossbar to grant Liverpool an 11-10 win was statistically sound, it was plainly at odds with what had gone before. A strong favourite to be awarded man of the match, Mendy had done more than enough to earn a spot in Chelsea’s shootout goal over the prior 120 minutes to fend off Liverpool.
Kepa subs have been successful in the past using this strategy. Tuchel made the identical switch in the UEFA Super Cup final in August, when Kepa stopped two penalties to help Bayern Munich defeat Villarreal 6-5 in a shootout.
There is no one in Chelsea’s history who has saved more penalties than Kepa, who has done it 10 times, eight of which have come in shootouts. Even though Mendy saved a penalty kick in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Egypt, the club’s internal statistics suggests that Kepa is a superior shootout stopper than the Senegalese goalkeeper.
However, the modification seemed to be counterproductive in this case. A single goal in two hours of football was prevented by a number of circumstances, including wayward finishing, the narrowest of VAR offside judgments, and Liverpool’s outstanding showing. But Mendy, who had been selected ahead of Kepa at the start of this tournament, was undoubtedly the most influential player.
While Mendy was away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Kepa played every game on the path to Wembley, and the club has been delighted with the progress he has made in recent months. There are reports that Chelsea would accept bids for Kepa, and this Wembley spectacular has eliminated any doubts about the 27-year-desire old’s to leave the club this summer.
When Kepa refused to be replaced in the 2019 Carabao Cup final minutes before a penalty shootout, it was only three years ago that the incident occurred. This competition will not be missed by Kepa if he leaves England at the conclusion of the season.
After the Russian owner of Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, indicated on Saturday evening that he intended to hand over control of the club to the club’s trustees, the invasion of Ukraine was temporarily put on hold. There were Ukraine flags flying in the Liverpool end where fans booed the English national song before the game began, but by game’s conclusion, Kepa’s storey provided sports reprieve from the difficult political background.”
It’s an oddity, because Chelsea may not have gone to penalties if Kepa had begun the game, but they might have won it in the shootout if Mendy had finished it.
Liverpool had 11 penalties, and Kepa had no chance of saving any of them. No amount of positioning to the left of centre could prevent Virgil van Dijk from hammering his spot kick to the left of goal, defeating his opponent easily. It was not Kepa’s job to take penalties, of course, but he couldn’t equal the maturity of Kelleher’s delivery when he had the ball in his hands.
It’s easy to assume Tuchel overanalyzed the situation.
However, “I feel awful for him,” Tuchel remarked of Kepa when asked about the situation. Because Kepa plays more games than Edu, he has more time on the training field to work on penalties.”
“I have no remorse; I accept full responsibility for my actions. “Of course, I accept responsibility.”
Chelsea’s players left the field after Liverpool had won the title. Mendy was the last to go. Having been permitted to stay in the game for a little longer may have had a completely different consequence.
In the words of James Olley: Source