LIVERPOOL WIN THE CARABAO CUP!
Full time: Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool It’s all over! Liverpool have won the League Cup for the tenth time. It’s the 51st major trophy in their history, and a story like no other. They finished the game with a mixture of kids, seniors who could barely run and a mighty character called Virgil van Dijk. His last-gasp header clinched the most glorious triumph of the human spirit, one that Liverpool Football Club will dine out on forever.
Key events
This will go straight into Liverpool folklore, the day a load of kids beat a billion-pound team from London. One or two of them will become Liverpool legends; most won’t, and some might be playing in the fourth tier in 2026. But however life turns out, they’ll all be there for the reunion in 2049. This game bonds them forever.
Jurgen Klopp couldn’t stop smiling if he tried. His cheeks should be killing him, so hard is he working them, not that he’ll care. More than anything else, Klopp’s man-management genius, or rather boy-management genius, made this possible.
LIVERPOOL WIN THE CARABAO CUP!
Full time: Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool It’s all over! Liverpool have won the League Cup for the tenth time. It’s the 51st major trophy in their history, and a story like no other. They finished the game with a mixture of kids, seniors who could barely run and a mighty character called Virgil van Dijk. His last-gasp header clinched the most glorious triumph of the human spirit, one that Liverpool Football Club will dine out on forever.
120+2 min Palmer is booked for fouling Diaz. Chelsea’s collective noggin has gone.
120 min Madueke has a snap volley blocked by Van Dijk. Chelsea appeal for handball but it came straight off the same part of his body that has just put Liverpool ahead.
There will be three minutes of added time.
120 min Gary Neville has just called Chelsea the “blue billion-pound bottle jobs”.
Virgil van Dijk falls on his back, a big dumb grin plastered all over his face. He made an excellent run across Mudryk at the near post to meet Tsimikas’s corner and flick an expert header into the far corner.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool (Van Dijk 118)
He’s done it again, and this time it counts!
118 min Clark’s shot deflects over the bar for a corner. Liverpool’s Carabao kids have been phenomenal; whatever happens, whoever wins, I hope it’s not one of the bairns who misses the decisive penalty.
117 min Palmer sweet-spots one from 25 yards. It’s too close to Kelleher, who holds on. He’s been immculate in the Liverpool goal.
115 min: Great save by Petrovic! Tsimikas curls a fabulous cross beyond the far post, where Elliott’s downward header is brilliantly saved with his left leg by Petrovic. That’s his best save of the match, by a distance.
115 min Madueke moves promisingly over the halfway line, only to overhit a through pass to Nkunku. Chelsea have been so poor in extra-time.
114 min Tsimikas sweeps a nice first-time shot with his right foot from 25 yards. Petrovic moves across his line to hold.
113 min: Chelsea substitution Trevoh Chalobah comes on for Ben Chilwell.
111 min Madueke shuffles infield from the right and curls a deflected shot that is grabbed at the second attempt by Kelleher, sprawling to his right.
110 min Liverpool continue to dominate possession. Chelsea look occasionally dangerous on the break but it’s bizarre that they haven’t had more of the ball in extra time.
109 min Palmer’s clever pass to Fernandez sparks a four-on-three attack, only for Madueke to then give the ball away. This will haunt Chelsea if they lose.
107 min McConnell is booked for a tactical foul on Palmer.
106 min Peep peep! We’re fifteen minutes away from a penalty competition.
Liverpool substitution Ibrahima Konate is replaced by Jarell Quansah, which takes Liverpool’s average age down to about 13 ¾.
These are the teams on the field as extra-time resumes.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk; Nkunku.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Kelleher; Gomez, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Clark, Endo, McConnell; Elliott, Danns, Diaz.
Half time in extra time: Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
Kelleher comes out of his area to beat Mudrk to a through pass, and that’s the end of a muted first period of extra time. Chelsea were asleep for the first 10 minutes.
105 min Chelsea are finally enjoying a bit of possession. Nkunku’s cross is put behind for another corner by Van Dijk, but Chilwell overhits it. Chelsea regain possession and Palmer heads straight at Kelleher from a left-wing cross. It wasn’t much of a chance.
104 min I thought Van Dijk kicked that Nkunku cross out for a throw-in but the referee has given a corner. No matter: it’s headed away at the near post.
103 min Fernandez releases Nkunku on the left, and his cross is booted away by Van Dijk. That’s Chelsea’s first vaguely threatening attack of extra time.
102 min “I’m no football encyclopedia but it’s wild to me that our midfield right now is Endo-Clark-McConnell,” says Neil Hattersley. “At the beginning of the season I’d only heard of one of those players and that’s only because Clark’s dad played for Newcastle in the 1990s.
“I understand why Klopp may have chosen not to stick Clark or McConnell in after the early injury due to inexperience. But I’m wondering in retrospect if the positional reshuffle meant we didn’t get the best out of Bradley and Elliott. We totally lost momentum after that change.”
That’s an interesting and persuasive point. From what little I’ve seen, Clark in particular looks fine at this level. I guess it was so early in the game that you can understand why he went for experience.
101 min Tsimikas’s deflected shot is saved comfortably by Petrovic. Just before that Colwill made another important interception.
100 min It’s almost shocking how lethargic and passive Chelsea have been in extra time. Liverpool’s motley crew – I don’t say that pejoratively – are battering them.
99 min: Chance for Liverpool! Diaz cuts inside from the left and curls a brilliant pass towards Elliott, whose volley on the run goes into the ground and ripples the side netting. The fans on the other side thought it was in.
98 min “In not unrelated news,” says Peter Oh, “Teenage Fanclub are on tour this year.”
97 min: Chelsea substitution Noni Madueke replaces a limping Conor Gallagher, who had that great chance to win the game in the 86th minute.
96 min Danns looks especially bright for Liverpool, and Chelsea have barely had a kick since the resumption. “It’s like they’re running in mud,” says Gary Neville on Sky.
94 min: Good save by Petrovic! A free-kick from the right is nodded back across goal by Van Dijk towards Danns, whose powerful header is tipped over by the leaping Petrovic. He’d expect to save that but it was a decent effort. Liverpool have started extra-time superbly.
92 min Liverpool have a stunning record in penalty competitions, so Chelsea really need to approach extra-time as Italy did against Germany in the 2006 World Cup semi-final. For now they are sitting back, oddly.
91 min Peep peep! They’re off again.
Full time: Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
Two disallowed goals, two efforts against the post, two sensational saves from Caoimhin Kelleher – and still no goals.
90+6 min Gallagher turns Konate and is fouled. He’s already had a yellow card so he needs to be careful, although it was a genuine attempt to play the ball rather than a tactical foul.
90+5 min Liverpool didn’t want this game to go to extra-time; now it’s all they want, because they are hanging on desperately.
Nkunku’s close-range shot was brilliantly blocked by the stretching Konate, then Palmer’s follow-up was kicked away by the off-balance Kelleher. Gusto leathered a cross-shot that ricocheted around the six-yard box until Nkunku bobbled a shot straight at Kelleher. Three attempts then, not four, but it was still pretty remarkable.
Konate, by the way, has been heroic in the last 10-15 minutes.
90+2 min: HOW DID CHELSEA NOT SCORE! They had four attempts in 10 seconds, and there’s barely time to describe them because Chelsea have a corner.
90+2 min Nkunku goes over in the area after a slightly clumsy challenge from Van Dijk. There were no appeals on the field, only from the Chelsea fans.
90 min There will be six minutes of added time, mostly because of Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed goal.
89 min: Chelsea substitution Mykhailo Mudryk replaces Nicolas Jackson, who had a pretty good game up front. Nkunku will move to centre-forward.
88 min Danns gets involved straight away with a speculative save that is comfortably saved by Petrovic.
87 min: Triple substitution for Liverpool Kostas Tsimikas, James McConnell and Jayden Danns replace Andy Robertson, Alexis Mac Allister and the disappointing Cody Gakpo.
86 min: Another chance for Gallagher! This time he sweeps over from the edge of the area after another fast break. Nowhere near as good as the first opportunity, though still half decent.
86 min: Brilliant save by Kelleher! That’s a one-on-one save of which Alisson would have been proud. Palmer ran at a weary defence and put Gallagher through on goal with what for him was a relatively simple angled pass. Gallagher took a touch and sidefoot a shot that was brilliantly blocked by the outrushing Kelleher.
85 min Blimey, Jurgen Klopp is about to bring on three more of his teenage substitutes.
84 min An imaginative volleyed cross from Gusto just swerves away from Nkunku at the far post. Chelsea look the likelier winners, but then so did England against Romania in 1988.
82 min Now Konate is booked for a handball, possibly inadvertent, that stops a Chelsea break. Actually it may have been for leading with his studs as he slid into Fernandez. Either way, he’s on a yellow card.
82 min “Somewhat off topic perhaps,” says Jeremy Smith, “but the scorer of a great League Cup final (second replay…) goal, Chris Nicholl, has passed away today.”
That’s really sad news. His Southampton team were one of the most exciting in England between 1985 and 1991.
81 min Mac Allister is booked for a foul on his old mate Caicedo.
80 min Liverpool work the well neatly across the face of the Chelsea area. Then Elliott finds the overlapping Gomez, whose hopeful rising drive is comfortably saved by Petrovic.
78 min “VAR is technically correct,” says Niall Mullen. “The worst kind of correct.”
It knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
76 min: Gallagher hits the post! As in 2022, I have no idea how this final is still goalless. Palmer teases Robertson on the right edge of the area and guides a fast low ball towards Gallagher near post. He steers it across Kelleher, who doesn’t move, and the ball bounces off the inside of the post.
75 min Clark robs Caicedo 25 yards from goal and tries an eye-of-the-needle through pass that is very well read by Disasi.
73 min Gakpo’s chipped cross is taken away from Elliott by Nkunku, whose defensive diligence may well have saved a goal.
