BREAKING: Carabao Cup : Liverpool Defeat Chelsea
Liverpool have been crowned the winners of the 2023/24 Carabao Cup after a 1-0 victory over Chelsea in extra time at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.
Starting the competition with home wins over AFC Wimbledon, Brighton & Hove Albion and Blackburn Rovers, the Blues then needed a stoppage-time equaliser and penalties to get the better of Newcastle United in the quarter-finals.
Amid their mixed form in the Premier League and an almighty scare in the semi-finals after losing 1-0 away at Championship side Middlesbrough in the first leg, Chelsea blew Michael Carrick’s side away 6-1 in the return leg to seal a place at Wembley.
Mauricio Pochettino’s first final as Chelsea boss, the Argentine kept faith with team that recorded a point away at Man City eight days earlier. There was to be no place in the matchday squad for Thiago Silva, however, as injury once again kept him on the sidelines.
Liverpool also had their injury woes to contend with for the big match. Already set to be without the likes of Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones for the final, it was confirmed at 2pm that Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez would also be absent following question marks over their fitness going into the final.
Chelsea started the game nervously as Liverpool took the game to them from the off, with Luis Diaz forcing Djordje Petrovic into a low save with 14 minutes on the clock. Despite barely laying a glove on their opponents in the opening exchanges, Cole Palmer brought out a fantastic save from Caoimhin Kelleher after the ball bounced kindly to him just a matter of yards from goal.
Managing to get a foothold in the game after that chance, Chelsea did have the ball in the net on 32 minutes through Raheem Sterling but Nicolas Jackson was adjudged to be offside by a matter of millimetres from Palmer’s through ball. Liverpool then went agonisingly close to opening the scoring on 40 minutes as Cody Gakpo headed against the post from close range after Andy Robertson had picked him out with a cross.
It did appear that the breakthrough had finally arrived on the hour mark with Virgil van Dijk finding the far corner of the net with a towering header from Robertson’s free-kick. However, it was disallowed following a VAR check after Waturu Endo, who was standing in an offside position, was adjudged to have blocked Levi Colwill, who would have contested for the ball in the air with the Dutchman.
After Liverpool’s woe in seeing Van Dijk’s goal chalked off, it was the Blues who went closest to opening the scoring as Axel Disasi somehow couldn’t convert the ball home from close range and then Conor Gallagher struck the foot of the post from Palmer’s pass. The Chelsea academy graduate then had another great opportunity with time running out but Kelleher was out quickly to deny the England international after he was played through on goal.
Kelleher was then the hero for Liverpool once again in stoppage with a brilliant save from Christopher Nkunku just as the ball looked set to find the net with it bouncing about in the box. Seeing a third successive Chelsea vs Liverpool cup final go to extra time after a 0-0 draw in 90 minutes, Chelsea goalkeeper Petrovic showed his sharp reflexes shortly after the restart to tip over a header from Liverpool youngster Jayden Danns.
The shot-stopper again did likewise to stop Harvey Elliott’s header from creeping in and his defence did just about enough to deny Danns just as he sensed an easy finish.
However, there was to be a cruel twist in the tale for Chelsea in the 118th minute as Van Dijk powered home another header from Konstantinos Tsimikas’ corner to spark wild scenes in front of the Liverpool fans.
(FOOTBALL.LONDON)
