Virgil van Dijk got here up with an important header to safe Liverpool a record-extending tenth English League Cup trophy on Sunday.
The heart again’s purpose in the twenty eighth minute of extra time sealed a 1-0 win towards Chelsea at Wembley after the sport had ended 0-0 in regulation.
It clinched an eighth piece of silverware for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and ensured he won’t finish his ultimate 12 months on the membership empty-handed.
“You should always savor the good moments, this is definitely one of them,” Van Dijk mentioned. “I’m so proud, proud to be part of this club and especially proud of the boys.”
Klopp will step down on the finish of the season, however victory in the League Cup has stored his crew on the right track for an inconceivable quadruple of trophies.
Liverpool at the moment leads the Premier League desk and remains to be in competition for the FA Cup and Europa League.
Victory was notably satisfying for Klopp, given he needed to name upon a bunch of the membership’s rising expertise in the absence of injured stars like Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
He used seven gamers who have been aged 21 or underneath.
“What happened here was absolutely insane, these things are not possible. The team, a squad, an academy full of character. I am so proud I could be part of that tonight,” he mentioned. “The craziest thing is we deserved it. We had lucky moments, they had lucky moments. The boys showed up, it was really cool.”
Chelsea supervisor Mauricio Pochettino hoped to win his first main trophy in England after earlier spells with Southampton and Tottenham.
He must wait.
“They (the players) are professional. They need to feel the pain. We played for a trophy we didn’t get. They need to feel the pain like us,” Pochettino mentioned. “The players feel the disappointment because we were so close to winning the game after 90 minutes.”
Liverpool and Chelsea had met in each home finals in 2022 and on every event Liverpool got here out on prime to elevate the League Cup and FA Cup on penalties after two goalless attracts.
This was one other shut match that noticed each groups have objectives dominated out for offside and the woodwork hit on three events.
Chelsea might have gone forward early on when Cole Palmer’s effort was saved by Caoimhin Kelleher from shut vary.
Later Raheem Sterling thought he had put Chelsea in entrance after sliding dwelling Nicolas Jackson’s cross, however the purpose was dominated out for offside in the buildup.
Cody Gakpo’s header then left Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic standing shortly earlier than halftime, however his effort got here again off the foot of the publish.
Van Dijk despatched Liverpool followers wild in the second half with a robust header to beat Petrovic, but it surely was Chelsea’s supporters who have been left cheering when after a prolonged assessment it was additionally disallowed for offside.
Conor Gallagher hit the publish in the 76th after flicking Palmer’s cross past Kelleher and later denied when one-on-one with the keeper.
Liverpool had the higher probabilities in extra time however when Harvey Elliott struck the publish with a header it appeared like it will go all the way down to penalties once more.
That was till Van Dijk got here up with the decisive second and maybe the beginning of a trophy-laden finish to Klopp’s reign.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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