The big clubs in England and their supporters frequently talk about their teams chasing the elusive ‘quadruple’, seeking to unite the Champions League, the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup on the season’s shelf in their trophy cabinet. Well, one of those competitions is now over when it comes to 2021-22, and it’s Liverpool who raised the cup following a penalty shootout at the end of a very intense final against Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday.
The Goalkeepers
The goalkeepers involved in this match are definitely the main talking point of this final. The match was highly dynamic, with both sides having their fair share of chances to swing it in their favour, but Edouard Mendy in the Chelsea goal and Caoimhin Kelleher in Liverpool’s both delivered superb performances and kept a clean sheet each.
It was a brave decision from Jurgen Klopp to name the Irishman to start ahead of Alisson Becker, but Kelleher definitely repaid the manager’s trust. Not only did he do a fantastic job over the 120 minutes, but he also kept cool enough at the end of it all to put his penalty away, after all 20 outfield players scored theirs. It was a great moment for the 23-year-old shot-stopper.
Meanwhile, Mendy had a fantastic game for Chelsea, and Tuchel’s decision to send Kepa Arrizabalaga on in his place was, frankly, baffling, unless there was some kind of an agreement in place to appease the Spaniard who stood between the posts through the entire competition before the final. The manager was obviously aware of how important the call was going to be, but he won’t have expected it to show its significance in this manner. Like Kelleher, Kepa didn’t save any of the shots he faced from the spot, but unlike Kelleher, he sky-rocketed his own shot into the Wembley stands to hand Liverpool the trophy.
The Thiago – Keita – Elliott situation
Klopp had named Thiago Alcantara to start this match, but the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich midfielder injured his hamstring in the warmup process and was forced to pull out. He was seen sitting in tears in light of his misfortune, obviously keen to help his team in the final. Naby Keita was named to start in his place, and Keita’s place on the bench was given to Harvey Elliott.
The match could have gone very wrong for Keita, and indeed for Liverpool. Just before the hour-mark, the Gunea international contested with Trevoh Chalobah for the ball and both players went in studs-up to win it. Chalobah was the one who caught the wrong end of the stick, felling Keita’s studs scrape his groin, but the incident was judged not to have warranted a red card, most likely because Chalobah himself was just as reckless as his opponent in that duel.
Keita went off to be replaced by the experienced James Milner in the 80th minute, at the same time when Elliott made his way onto the pitch instead of Jordan Henderson. Like for Kelleher, it was a great moment for the 18-year-old to appear in a big final, arguably even more so due to the fact that he was initially supposed to be left out of the squad completely.
Elliott put in a very decent performance for the odd 40 minutes he was on, and put his penalty away as calmly as anyone else.
As for Thiago, Klopp and the rest of the team await the results of a hamstring scan he was due to undergo on Monday afternoon before any assessment on the length of a potential absence can be made.
Records
Leaving out €115 million signing Romelu Lukaku from his lineup again, Tuchel explained his decision to do so through tactics, pointing out that the fluid line of Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount was better equipped to hurt Liverpool.
Havertz completely justified the manager’s choice. Playing mostly down the left, the former Bayer Leverkusen man showed extreme football intelligence, knowing exactly when to drop deep and help with organizing play, when to make a run, and when to release runners with through-passes.
Minute six was underway when Havertz cut inside from the left, made a run through the middle and engaged Cesar Azpilicueta on the right, and the captain fired a perfect low ball across the six yards for Pulisic to score, but Kelleher made a superb save. In the 49th, Pulisic dropped deep to receive the ball and took advantage of Havertz’s clever positioning to release Mount in behind, but the England international only managed to hit the post when one-on-one with Kelleher.
Overall, Havertz equaled David Silva’s record for the number of chances created in this match with five to his name. However, the record was obviously meant not only to get equaled, but broken as well, and that was the work of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold who created six. Liverpool frequently attack through their fullbacks, and both Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson are among the three best assistants in the Premier League this season. The name of the other one – Mohamed Salah.
This was also the highest-scoring penalty shootout between two English top-flight teams ever, and the first time that two coaches of the same nationality which isn’t English led their teams in a final of an English cup, ever.
But the record that Liverpool fans will be feeling proud the most about is that this was their ninth League Cup triumph, one more than Manchester City.
The ‘quadruple’ – is it on?
It’s hard to imagine any team in England winning all four major trophies on offer each season. Liverpool have done brilliantly to win the first one and they’re still very much in the race for the rest of them, but is it realistic to expect them to win them all?
Much will, of course, depend on injuries and Klopp’s comfort when it comes to resting players against arguably inferior opposition. Much will also depend on their opponents and their results.
All such dreams aside for a moment, Klopp and his men, as well as their supporters, would certainly be happy with winning the Premier League or the Champions League in addition to the Carabao Cup. Anything more than that would be stunning.
As for Chelsea, their attention now turns to defending their title as the Champions League holders, where they seem set to reach the quarterfinals after beating LOSC Lille in the first leg of the round of 16 by 2-0. They will also be looking over their shoulders in the Premier League, not being too keen to see any of the teams below come any closer. At the moment, Manchester United are fourth with three points less, but Chelsea have two games in hand on the 20-time champions and will be looking to increase the gap as soon as possible.
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