Soccer
Liverpool secured the English League Cup in a rarely seen penalty thriller on Sunday. The Reds defeated Chelsea 11-10 after 120 goalless minutes in the final at Wembley Stadium. The first 21 shooters had all converted before Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who came on for the penalty shoot-out, put the decisive ball well over the goal.
Liverpool celebrated their ninth League Cup title, their first in ten years, and are again the sole record winners in this competition ahead of Manchester City. For coach Jürgen Klopp, in office since 2015, it was the first national title in a cup competition with the “Reds”. His team has now won ten competitive games in a row and also made the title race in the Premier League exciting again after losing points only three points behind ManCity.
Champions League winners Chelsea, on the other hand, were denied their second title this calendar year after that at the Club World Cup. Thomas Tuchel had to bow in the German coaching duel with Klopp – also because his move with Kepa didn’t work out. The 27-year-old Spaniard came on for goalkeeper Eduard Mendy in the 120th minute because Tuchel saw more chances with him in the penalty shoot-out. The fact that Kepa had to compete himself in the end was probably not taken into account.
Both teams at their best
Both coaches practically fielded their teams at their best. Mendy and also Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher, who stood in goal instead of goalkeeper Alisson, showed some saves, some of which were worth seeing. After about an hour, a goal by Liverpool’s Joel Matip was disallowed for offside after video evidence. Two supposed Chelsea goals from Kai Havertz and one from Romelu Lukaku were also disallowed for offside.
The game was overshadowed by the war in Ukraine. Before the game, the teams and most of the 85,512 spectators at Wembley expressed their solidarity with the country. Ukrainian flags could be seen in the stands. Russian Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who is said to be close to Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, relinquished control of the traditional London club on Saturday in view of the threat of sanctions. However, Chelsea are not yet up for sale.
