Liverpool champion of the English League Cup

The Liverpool won the League Cup this Sunday at Wembley by imposing in penalties to Chelsea, after drawing 0-0, after the Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalga missed his penalty in the decisive round (11-10) in an electrifying showdown.

The two opponents staged a frenetic clash with chances for both sides in the first half. Anyone could have gotten ahead on the scoreboard. The clearest was with the Senegalese Sadio Mané, who riddled Mendy (minute 28), but he managed to get up slightly to deflect the ball to the corner kick, after having rejected another shot.

The directed of Jurgen Klopp, dominated the possession of the ball, but the Blues caused danger thanks to their vertical game. Mason Mount missed an opportunity from the penalty spot (minute 44) after being assisted by the German Kai Havertz on the most important occasion.

The second half did not disappoint the fans. of both teams. Mount made an incredible mistake against Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher (minute 49) when he sent the ball to the goalkeeper’s left post. The images showed the tremendous anger of his German coach, Thomas Thuchel, hitting the ground with his right hand several times.

Then the Egyptian Mohamed Salah had another opportunity after a serious error in Mendy’s exit (minute 63) with his feet, but the North African crossed the ball too much, which ended up going outside the three posts.

But Liverpool dreamed of victory. Alexander Arnold centered a ball that Mané headed at the second post so that the German Joel Matip scored on the line with his head (minute 65), a play revised in the VAR and due to a foul by the Dutchman Virgil van Dijk on a Chelsea defender.

Until the last moments of regulation time Mendy saved his team from defeat. Van Dijk headed a ball that the spectacular goalkeeper cleared with his mitt. Even though the last chance was for the Belgian Romelu Lukaku who with a subtle touch in the small area He almost beats Kelleher, also very attentive throughout the duel.

In extra time, the Reds imposed the rhythm of the gamebut Lukaku could raise the first goal if his arm was not offside, by a few millimeters (minute 98).

In the last few minutes, the goalkeeper Kepa came in for Mendy, who had a great match, facing the penalty shootout.

After 21 launches without failure, Kepa threw forcefully above the horizontal, which caused the outburst of joy from Klopp’s players.

“I am happy that people in these dark times celebrate something like this. Chelsea are incredibly strong. We needed to be lucky”, declared a euphoric Klopp at the end of the duel. (D)