Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties in League Cup final

Liverpool held their nerve to win an astounding penalty shoot-out 11-10 and edge out Chelsea in the English League Cup last after a fearsome challenge had some way or another finished 0-0 after additional time at Wembley.

The two sides could profess to have been meriting champs in an exemplary free-streaming experience brimming with goal scoring possibilities, striking recoveries and four denied goals.

Indeed, even in the punishment shoot-out the two heavyweights were indivisible with 21 successful kicks tightening up the strain.

In the end it boiled down to an improbable clash between two goalkeepers with Liverpool’s young Irish shot-plug Caoimhin Kelleher belting his punishment past Kepa Arrizabalaga who had swapped Edouard Mendy for the shoot-out.

Spaniard Arrizabalaga then, blasted his effort over the bar into the massed positions of Liverpool allies who commended the club’s first homegrown Cup silverware for 10 years.

While Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp had won the Premier League and Champions League since showing up at Anfield, it was an uncommon cup accomplishment for the German who had won just two of his past eight finals with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool.

For Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel it implied his expectations of a fourth trophy in a little more than a year at Stamford Bridge missed the mark. He won the Champions League last season and the European SuperCup and FIFA Club World Cup this season.

Jorgen Klopp’s decision to continue with stand-in keeper Kelleher, who has featured throughout the run to the final, rather than revert to Alisson, was richly rewarded.

“It’s a mad one. When it came down to me I didn’t even think I had scored the winning penalty,” he said. “It was more hit and hope. I got close to a few but all the penalties were very high quality; thankfully we were able to win,” said Jurgen Klopp.