Jurgen Klopp's farewell tour begins with reminder of his legendary coaching status
FROM WEMBLEY STADIUM — Liverpool should not have stood a chance. Victory seemed impossible as much as just implausible.
Heading into Sunday's Carabao Cup final with Chelsea, the Reds were without a whole host of key players. Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai weren't risked despite coming close to the required fitness level, with Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, Curtis Jones, Stefan Bajcetic and Diogo Jota already ruled out.
Matters were made worse when Ryan Gravenberch had to be stretchered off midway through the first half with a nasty ankle injury.
After 28 minutes, Liverpool's lineup read like one Jurgen Klopp would usually reserve for round three of the Carabao Cup as opposed to the final. It resembled the Under-18 side that took to the pitch in 2019 against Aston Villa when the senior Reds were at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Liverpool had Caoimhin Kelleher to thank for a pulsating final heading to extra-time. When Virgil van Dijk appeared to head them in front on the hour mark before a cruel VAR review chalked it off for offside against Wataru Endo, the momentum seemed to swing back the way of Chelsea.
The billion-pound Blues — later christened the billion-pound bottle-jobs by Gary Neville — peppered Kelleher's goal. Cole Palmer. Conor Gallagher, Christopher Nkunku and Enzo Fernandez all missed golden chances to break the deadlock, only to be thwarted by themselves or Kelleher.
As Liverpool's kids — including Bobby Clark, James McConnell, Jayden Danns and Jarell Quansah — grew into proceedings, the feeling switched back. Extra-time belonged to Liverpool and the glut of Chelsea chances just stopped. The Reds weren't exactly creating the best of openings themselves but they were
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