(Chelsea-Liverpool 0-0, 10-11 after penalties) It was one of the funniest finals English football had given us in a while and it was a match that contained everything – except for the match winner. The hero is the Irish goalkeeper Kawimhen Kelleher (23).
In a mixture of chances, offside goals, VAR disqualifications and tears already about Initially, the thriller had to be set as a result of its natural drama after an unusually long penalty kick competition. After nearly three hours of play in the final, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson managed to lift the League Cup while spraying golden confetti on Wembley.
Thus, the German Jürgen Klopp finally conquered the English national scene. There he lost the World Cup finals with Borussia Dortmund (2013) and Liverpool (2016), and had to wait a long time and see a lot before his first Wembley title was in the penalty area.
For the 2022 League Cup Final, the football match that will never end was: 0-0 after 120 minutes, 5-5 in the first 10 penalties, 5-5 also in the next 10 penalties – before the almost unbeatable finish: goalkeeper The goal against the goalkeeper. There, the little-known Caoimhin Kelleher, bought for just over 350,000 kroner from the unknown Ringmahon Rovers, took the rat on Kepa Arrizabalaga – the most expensive goalkeeper in the world.
– That was relatively exciting. When you know the history of these two teams, you know it’s not going to be 8-0 for either of us. We walk on each other. They start better, then we are the best, then they are the best again, and then us, sums up enthusiastic Jürgen Klopp. Liverpool TV channel.
– It could have been 5-5, he adds.
Towards the end of the second overtime period, tactically savvy Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel committed what will be remembered as a mistake: knocking out Edward Mendy after a cannonball match and putting Kepa in a penalty shootout. The Spaniard was on his way to the final and was the ‘Goalkeeper of the Cup’, but at Wembley his 750m buyout in 2018 was worthless:
None of Liverpool’s 11 penalty kicks, not even from goalkeeper Keeler, finally blew Kepa’s last attempt at the match high above the goal.
I am the one who makes the decisions. We don’t know what would have happened if we had left Mindy on the field. “Don’t blame him, blame me,” Tuchel explains at the press conference afterward. He says that Kepa trains more on penalties than Mendy and that this has been done before.
It is difficult to miss a single penalty kick, but he (Kepa) is not to blame, Tuchel continues.
Klopp did the opposite of his compatriot in each of the German coach’s 10th Grand Final: Liverpool boss left superstar Alisson on the bench and kept 23-year-old cup goalkeeper Kelleher at 11.
Admittedly, the Irishman has tried his hand at Chelsea before in 16 A-games over three years with Liverpool, but he has mostly played against Shrewsbury, Cardiff and Midtigland. And despite the distance from Herning to the Wembley final and 90 thousand in the stands, Keeler proved courageous and mature enough for the task already after five and a half minutes: Chelsea’s attack Christian Pulisic could finish alone after Cesar Azpilicueta’s perfect pass, but the 23-year-old He was on the spot and was saved.
Liverpool had to dispense with midfielder Thiago, who had to leave the starting lineup after having problems during the warm-up period. He cried when the final was blown, but managed to wipe away tears as his teammates were about to take the lead after Chelsea’s good start.
Trent Alexander-Arnold started hitting with passes, Luis Diaz started with dribbles – and midfielder Sadio Mane who didn’t beat compatriot Edward Mendy after half an hour was incredible.
Near Keita narrowly missed the field crawler from outside 16 metres, Mendy was down and dodging. The comeback rolled in as a gift to Mane, and suddenly the Liverpool attack came face to face with the goalkeeper who stood by him side by side in the previous last appearance: when the duo were the main characters of Senegal’s historic title in the African Championship penalty shootout drama. Three weeks ago. Mindy threw his arms at Mane’s attempt and grabbed the ball.
Liverpool continued to advance, but Chelsea’s counterattacks came with stitches. Academy producer Mason Mount was on the wrong side of the post when Kai Havertz played him for a massive chance just before the break, and when the same Mount got an almost identical chance afterwards, he didn’t seem to adjust his shot foot enough Under the rest of the wardrobe. This time he hit the post from the inside – and it was still negative.
Then everyone thought that Liverpool had finally broken ground zero. Alexander-Arnold turned a free kick over the field, Mane headed back across the penalty area and, on the blind side of Chelsea goalkeeper Thiago Silva, the great Joel Matip slipped forward. The Cameroonians from Liverpool saw in the net and were finally able to hear Wembley’s roar, but could not drown out the VAR room message to referee Stuart Atwell that the situation should be double checked on screen.
There he came to the conclusion that Matip’s partner Virgil van Dijk was a bit rough on Reece James as the ball went and affected the match enough that it was a criminal offside. It didn’t help that van Dijk’s personal video judgment over Wembley’s big screen came to the opposite conclusion. The duels against the referee lost even the huge Van Dijk, and the Dutchman became very weak when he got Liverpool’s last chance in normal time. The midfielder’s header after a corner kick was stopped by a tiger jump from Mendy.
The last Chelsea player got Romelu Lukaku. The Chelsea striker was off the bench again from the start, but barely got the second half from Tuchel and could hysterically become the match-winner with a suitably committed heel kick. But Kelleher was just as restless as in the opening game, and Klopp’s goalkeeper pick stopped the ball with a flexing of his foot.
If that ending seemed uninspiring, Lukaku shot full cylinders in the first overtime. In a situation so marginal offside that only VAR wanted to look into the matter, he took out Ibrahima Konate and sent the third non-calculated ball into the net tonight. The assistant referee followed the heavy flag principle and waited, while the constant monitoring of the video room lines put the Belgian offside.
This was repeated for Kai Havertz in the second extra period, who also canceled a goal for offside, the second for the German for the day and the fourth in the match. And so it was a penalty.
Note! Also three years ago, Kepa Arrizabalaga was a kind of main character in the League Cup final. At that time it had to be replaced Outside In the end against Manchester City – who also went to the penalty shootout. But he refused to bow to Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri, and remained on the field, standing in the penalty shootout – As time wasted.
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