Liverpool secured a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup tournament in England after a dramatic victory over Chelsea at “Anfield“. The two teams finished 1:1 in regular time, and after a total of 16 penalties, the hosts prevailed 6:5 and advanced in the competition.
The match offered many interesting situations in front of both goals, and the outcome came after an extremely tense series of penalty kicks, in which there were both misses and decisive interventions by the goalkeepers.
In the 24th minute, Morgan Rodgers broke into the Liverpool penalty area and fell after contact with Ronald Araujo. However, the head referee Darren England decided that there was no reason to award a penalty kick. The VAR system is not used at this stage of the tournament.
A quarter of an hour later, the referee still pointed to the penalty spot, but this time in favor of Chelsea. Malo Gusto found Moises Caicedo in the penalty area and Ryan Gravenberch fouled the Ecuadorian midfielder.
Morgan Rodgers took charge and opened the scoring in the 40th minute. He headed the ball in a different direction than goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili had thrown himself into, giving the Londoners the lead.
Liverpool's response was not long in coming. Just three minutes later, Wesley Fofana handled a corner kick, leading to the second penalty of the game. Cody Gakpo kept his composure and headed the ball into the bottom right corner, while Mike Penders dived in the opposite direction. Thus, the score became 1:1.
Shortly after the equalizer, Gakpo again threatened Chelsea's goal with a shot from the edge of the penalty area, but this time Penders intervened successfully.
After the restart, Chelsea looked for another goal. In the 48th minute, Rodgers had a good opportunity in the penalty area, but Mamardashvili saved his shot. A few minutes later, Pedro Neto shot from distance, but it went straight into the hands of the Georgian goalkeeper.
In the 61st minute, Penders demonstrated excellent reflexes and saved a dangerous header from Ronald Araujo. Almost immediately after that, Chelsea organized a quick counterattack, which ended with Rodgers shooting, but Joe Gomez intervened decisively and cleared it for a corner.
Bradley Barcola also tried to change the course of the match. In the 65th minute, he broke free of Jordan Henderson's protection and fired from the edge of the penalty area, but Penders again showed a good reaction.
Chelsea continued to search for a winning goal and in the 78th minute Marco Palestra fired a shot from a good position, but Mamardashvili saved. Two minutes later, Liverpool missed a great opportunity to take the lead. First, Florian Wirtz's shot was blocked by Levi Colwill, and then Barcola's attempt was stopped by Acheampong.
By the end of regular time, no new goal had been scored and both teams had to determine the winner by shooting penalties.
The series started successfully for both teams. Alexis Mc Allister gave Liverpool the lead, and Pedro Neto restored the tie. Alexander Isak and Morgan Rodgers were also on target, before Cody Gakpo and Romeo Lavia made it 3-3.
Florian Wirtz converted the next penalty for the hosts, but Valentin Barko missed for Chelsea after sending the ball to the right post. Konstantinos Tsimikas, however, failed to take advantage of the opportunity to increase Liverpool's lead, sending the ball over the goal.
Jordan Henderson restored parity, and Bradley Barcola again put the “Reds” ahead. Levi Colwill was on target for Chelsea and the score reached 5-5.
More misses followed from both sides. Mike Penders blocked Ryan Gravenberh's effort, and Giorgi Mamardashvili saved Emmanuel Emega's shot. Joe Gomez gave Liverpool the lead again, but Wesley Fofana missed the opportunity to extend Chelsea's lead, sending the ball high over the goal.
Liverpool thus won the dramatic series 6-5 and secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.