Carabao Cup
Quadruple still possible for Liverpool as Chelsea becomes first team to lose three consecutive FA Cup finals
Juergen Klopp’s relentless Liverpool beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties in a fluctuating English FA Cup final on Saturday to stay on course for an unprecedented quadruple of trophies.
An absorbing Wembley showpiece had somehow ended 0-0 after extra time despite a raft of chances and near misses for both sides with fine performances from the two goalkeepers.
Substitute Kostas Tsimikas slotted the winning penalty after Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s had hit the post and Alisson had saved Mason Mount’s effort.
Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy had kept his side alive when he saved Senegal team mate Sadio Mane’s penalty but it proved to no avail as Liverpool lifted the trophy for the first time since 2006.
It was a carbon copy of the League Cup final in February, which Liverpool won 11-10 on penalties after that game also finished goalless.
“I’m really proud of my boys,” Liverpool manager Klopp said. “We are mentality monsters but there were mentality monsters in Chelsea colours as well — it was one penalty.
“Chelsea played outstanding but in the end there must be one winner and that was us today.”
Saturday’s win means Liverpool have won 50% of their target for the season.
They are three points behind Manchester City in the Premier League race with two games to go and meet Real Madrid in the Champions League final on May 28.
“This is something that will give us even more confidence to keep on going in the Premier League and also for the Champions League final,” Alisson, who made a crucial save from Marcos Alonso in the first half, said.
For Chelsea it meant an unwelcome record of becoming the first side to lose three FA Cup finals in a row, after losing to Arsenal in 2020 and Leicester City last year.
Liverpool had the best of a pulsating first half with Luis Diaz close several times, before Chelsea came back in the second, with Alonso rattling the crossbar.
Klopp’s Liverpool enjoyed the greater possession and finished the 90 minutes on top, Diaz and Andrew Robertson both hitting the post in the final 10 minutes and the indefatigable Diaz whistling a shot just wide in the 90th.
Tired legs on a warm day contributed to a rather anticlimactic extra time with both sides appearing to have decided to take their chances in a shootout.
Sadly for Chelsea, as in February, it was a case of so near yet so far although manager Thomas Tuchel had no regrets.
“Like in the last final, the League Cup, no regrets. I told the team I was proud,” he told reporters. “We played 240 minutes in two finals against maybe the most dangerous attacking team in the world and it’s 0-0.”
“I was sure during the match the momentum was on our side but unfortunately I was not right.”
The only blot on another memorable day for Liverpool was striker Mohamed Salah being withdrawn in the first half with an injury.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was handed the Cup by Prince William to roars from the Liverpool fans while the Chelsea end had largely emptied.
“It’s a big moment for us, we haven’t been in this final for some time so to win it was special,” Henderson said.
The win was Liverpool’s eighth in the 150-year history of the FA Cup, drawing them level with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal have won the most with 14.
-Reuters
Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Christian Eriksen all scored twice as the Old Trafford side roared into the last 16 of the League Cup with a 7-0 rout of third-tier Barnsley on Tuesday.
United were joined in the fourth round by fellow Premier League sides Brentford, who beat third-tier Leyton Orient 3-1, and Crystal Palace after they edged Queen’s Park Rangers 2-1.
Top flight Fulham were knocked out in extraordinary fashion by second-tier Preston North End after the match ended 1-1 — the home side prevailing 16-15 in a 34-penalty shootout, the longest-ever in the competition.
United manager Erik Ten Hag has endured a rocky time since taking over in 2022 but enjoyed the biggest win of his reign.
England forward Rashford ended a six-month goal drought at the weekend when he scored against Southampton in the Premier League and needed only 16 minutes to strike against Barnsley.
His silky finish high into the net paved the way for United to demolish Barnsley who were no match for Ten Hag’s side.
Antony added the second from the penalty spot in the 35th minute and Garnacho poked home United’s third in first-half stoppage time to put the hosts in complete control.
Garnacho side-footed his second from Rashford’s pass just after the restart and returned the compliment as Rashford made it 5-0. Eriksen scored his first United goal for more than a year in the 81st minute, slotting in Bruno Fernandes’s cross.
Eriksen then fired in from the edge of the area to complete United’s biggest-ever League Cup win and their biggest margin of victory since Ten Hag took charge in 2022.
United’s previous biggest wins under the Dutchman were 4-1 defeats of Real Betis and Chelsea.
“Football is football. Sometimes you have ups and sometimes downs, but we have to use these games to get momentum and consistency,” Rashford said.
Ten Hag added: “I thought the first goal from Marcus was really good, but so were the rest. We played with a lot of speed and were ruthless in front of goal. The key was the right attitude and to be 100% concentrated.”
BASEMENT BATTLE
The Premier League’s bottom two clubs met at Goodison Park and there was more woe for Everton as they bowed out on penalties to Southampton after a 1-1 draw.
Abdoulaye Doucoure put Everton ahead but Southampton levelled through Taylor Harwood-Bellis and the visitors won 6-5 in the shootout. Eleven penalties hit the net before Ashley Young saw his effort saved by Alex McCarthy.
Brentford were given an early scare when Brandon Cooper put Orient in front but Fabio Carvalho equalised in acrobatic fashion. Mikel Damsgaard headed Brentford in front and Christian Norgaard ensured progress for Thomas Frank’s team.
Eddie Nketiah scored his first goal for Crystal Palace since moving from Arsenal and Eberechi Eze struck the winner against his old club Queen’s Park Rangers to send the visitors through.
Sheffield Wednesday won 1-0 at Blackpool, while Championship (second-tier) side Stoke City needed penalties to get past fourth-tier Fleetwood Town 2-1 after being held to a 1-1 draw.
The remaining third round ties will be played on Wednesday and next week, concluding with holders Liverpool at home fellow Premier League side West Ham United on Sept. 25.
-Reuters
Liverpool won the League Cup by beating Chelsea 1-0 through a late extra-time goal from captain Virgil van Dijk after a fierce end-to-end battle at Wembley on Sunday.
Dutchman Van Dijk rose to meet a corner in the 118th minute and nodded home in front of cheering Liverpool fans.
The two teams had numerous chances in the first 90 minutes.
Both sides had goals ruled out after long VAR checks, with Raheem Sterling’s first-half effort for Chelsea cancelled out because Nicolas Jackson was offside in the build-up while Van Dijk’s second-half header was disallowed for an infringement by Wataru Endo.
Both teams also hit the post, Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo in the first half and Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher in the second.
It was the third Cup victory for Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool over Chelsea in two years, the Reds winning the League and FA Cups in 2022 after goalless draws and penalty shootouts.
-Reuters
Winning the League Cup would be a crucial addition to the final segment of a memoir with Liverpool, the soon-to-depart manager Juergen Klopp said before his side’s final match against Chelsea.
Klopp has announced his decision to step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season, citing dwindling energy levels.
The 56-year-old, who is the only Liverpool manager to win six different major trophies, would dedicate the victory to everyone connected to the Merseyside club as part of his trophy-laden nine-year epoch.
“I want to win on Sunday but not for me or my trophy cabinet,” Klopp said of the League Cup final. “It is for the boys, for the club, for the people. That is much more important.
“We wrote, and we are still writing, a wonderful book, and when I leave we close that book and put it on the shelf and then someone else will write a wonderful book.
“Yes, there is space for some chapters. It is long. I am not there and writing the resume already? Not at all. I am 100% in trying to create a few special memories on top of what we have done.”
Klopp’s side have a lengthy injury list that could hinder their chances of securing a record-extending 10th League Cup triumph at Wembley, with the likes of Diogo Jota, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson and Curtis Jones sidelined and forwards Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai doubtful for Sunday.
Liverpool’s most recent triumph came in the 2021-22 campaign when they also lifted the FA Cup, and narrowly missed securing a treble as they finished second in the Premier League.
-Reuters
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