Oviri Kelvin, Sports Editor, Abuja
Liverpool edged Chelsea in a highly competitive 120 minutes match to win the Carabao Cup at Wembley Stadium on penalty shootouts which ended 10-11 in favour of the Reds.
In the early minutes of the game, the Blues almost took the lead through an effort from Christian Pulisic that was brilliantly saved by Caoimhin Kelleher to deny Chelsea an early goal.
Liverpool with a glimpse of hope on the Premier League title, trailing Manchester City on the Premier League table with a 6-point gap and a game in hand, won their 9th Carabao to reignite their 2021/22 campaign the season.
However, the game progressed on an evenly matched tie with both teams having their opportunities denied or whisked away from the goal.
The highly intense atmosphere preempted goals in the first half with Chelsea conceding 7 fouls while Liverpool got 9 shots with a pantry two on target.
Liverpool last won the Carabao Cup 10 years ago; they came close to taking the lead in the second half after Joel Matip’s 67th-minute goal from Sadio Mane’s assist was ruled out by VAR.
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Chelsea also responded likewise but it was ruled out for an offside a few minutes after Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner came in for Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic respectively.
Reece James had earlier substituted Cesar Azpilicueta.
Liverpool also made some triple changes in the second half with H. Elliott, J. Milner, and D. Jota substituting J. Henderson, N. Keith, and S. Mane respectively. The second half ended in a goalless draw and also the extra time before both teams proceeded to a penalty shootouts.
