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Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images
An injury-ravaged Liverpool side overcame Chelsea in a memorable League Cup final on Sunday.
Liverpool started Sunday’s match without a slew of of injured first team stars, the Reds missing Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai, Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nuñez, Thiago Alcântara, Stefan Bajcetic, and Joël Matip.
They ended it certain to have lost yet another, Ryan Gravenberch, and with Wataru Endo leaving the stadium with his foot in a protective brace. They ended it with six academy graduates on the pitch—and with a seventh, Conor Bradley, having started the evening.
That they also ended the night with a 1-0 victory over a Chelsea side constructed for more than £1bn seems, quite frankly, preposterous. Yet it’s exactly what happened, something manager Jürgen Klopp found himself happily trying to wrap his head around afterwards.
“In more than 20 years, it’s easily the most special trophy I ever won,” Klopp said following the match. “It’s absolutely exceptional. Sometimes I get asked if I’m proud of this, proud of that. Tonight there’s an overwhelming feeling. I was proud of everybody involved here.
“I was proud of our people for the way they pushed us. I was proud of the staff for creating this kind of atmosphere surrounding where these boys can just do what they are best at. I was proud of our Academy. I was proud of my coaches. I was proud of so many things.”
Given the lineups and injury situation, it never should’ve ended a 1-0 victory. Given Gravenberch’s injury, a studs-up ankle-breaker not even resulting in a yellow, and Liverpool having a Virgil van Dijk goal questionably disallowed, it never should’ve ended a 1-0 victory.
Reasonably and realistically, Sunday afternoon’s League Cup final never, ever should have ended with Liverpool lifting a trophy. Not when everything seemed set against them to start the game—and then just got worse as the 90 minutes and then extra time ticked past.
In the end, though, it did. And while maybe it won’t go down as the most thrilling game, or the most important piece of silverware, it’s hard in the aftermath to argue with Klopp’s take. In the circumstances, the result was special. And it was something to be very proud of.
“How everybody contributed, seeing the faces after the game of the kids,” he added. “Can you create in football stories which nobody will ever forget? This, tonight, if you find a story with academy players coming up against a top, top, side and winning, I never heard it.
“This was so special. You saw the circumstances. We had problems before, they became bigger during the game, and then you see all the tired players. I have no clue who can play on Wednesday because we had players on the pitch until the end who had problems.
“We asked Harvey to stay, we asked Lucho to stay. So, I have no idea who can play on Wednesday, but for tonight it is a night I will never forget. If nobody else sees it like that, no problem. For me, it will be a really nice memory forever.”
