How Liverpool won the Carabao Cup

Liverpool defied a crippling injury list and some hairy defensive moments to defeat Chelsea and claim the first trophy of the domestic season – and a record 10th League Cup – in front of almost 90,000 fans at Wembley. Virgil van Dijk's headed winner, in front of the travelling Liverpool supporters, came with only two minutes of extra-time remaining at the end of an exhausting and dramatic final. 

Both sides had goals ruled out in normal time, with Raheem Sterling the first to find the back of the net. His effort was disallowed for a very marginal offside against Nicolas Jackson in the build-up. A second-half Van Dijk header into the same goal, from an Andy Robertson free-kick, saw referee Chris Kavanagh sent to the touchline. There, he adjudged an offside Wataru Endo to have blocked Levi Colwill as the ball was delivered. 

A Liverpool team already missing the likes of Alisson, Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, Darwin Núñez, Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones had to call upon academy products Bobby Clark, James McConnell, Jayden Danns and Jarell Quansah as extra-time loomed. Jürgen Klopp's side pushed the harder as the game looked set to go to penalties, however, and their ambition was duly rewarded.

How the managers saw it

“In my 20 years, this is easily the most special trophy,” said Klopp in the wake of his eighth major trophy as Liverpool manager – the League Cup becomes the first he has lifted twice in his Anfield spell. “The team, a squad, an academy full of character. I am so proud I could be part of that tonight.

“The craziest thing is, we deserved it. We had lucky moments, they had lucky moments. The boys showed up, it was really cool.”

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino, who lost a Champions League final to Klopp and Liverpool during his time at Tottenham, rued his young team's inability to maintain its performance across all 120 minutes. “We didn’t keep the energy of how we finished the second half,” he said. “I don’t know how you can describe this situation. But I feel proud. I feel proud of the players, I think they made a big effort.

“Experience and leadership inside the pitch helps. But the players feel the disappointment because we were so close to winning the game in 90 minutes. We started to lose the energy [in extra-time].”

Below, our UEFA-licensed experts consider the key tactical themes from the game...

The Liverpool press

Klopp set Liverpool up in their familiar 4-3-3 formation, and it was their high pressing from this shape early in the match that gave them a strong start. The two wide attackers, Luis Díaz and Harvey Elliott, pressed the Chelsea centre-backs in possession, with right-back Conor Bradley then particularly quick to jump on to Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell (below).

The three in central midfield also positioned themselves aggressively to jump forward and lock the ball to one side. The press forced a number of mistakes on the ball from the Chelsea back line, and numerous high regains from which Liverpool created some excellent attacking moments.

Injury to Ryan Gravenberch jolted Liverpool’s rhythm, with Elliott moving inside, Bradley playing higher on the right and Joe Gomez introduced at right-back. Chelsea’s forwards looked to exploit the Liverpool high line, but after a period of Chelsea momentum Liverpool ended the first half stronger. Cody Gakpo’s back-pressing into midfield gave the Reds an extra edge in central areas (below), despite Cole Palmer looking to drift inside from the right and give Chelsea an overload.

Andy Robertson’s inside movements to cover this did threaten to leave the Liverpool back line exposed at times, but the superiority of their central players’ duelling consistently thwarted the Chelsea build. Another high regain led to Gakpo heading against the bar late in a first half that nevertheless ended goalless.

Chelsea’s central combinations

Pochettino set Chelsea up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, but they initially struggled against Liverpool’s aggressive press. Once Palmer dropped deep to support and combine with the double pivot – pulling Robertson with him – Chelsea did find gaps to exploit. Conor Gallagher repositioned from his central starting role as the number 10 to take advantage of these spaces on the right (below), while Raheem Sterling then looked to penetrate in behind central forward Nicolas Jackson from the left. Caoimhín Kelleher was forced into a superb close-range save from Palmer after one Chelsea right-sided attack, with another leading to a Sterling goal that was ruled out for a Jackson offside.

Chelsea eventually built some attacking momentum through sustained spells of possession. One of the two pivots dropped into the back line, allowing full-backs Chilwell and Malo Gusto to provide attacking width. Palmer continued to shift inside, creating extra room for Gusto, while Gallagher readjusted towards the left. The two young Englishmen then operated ahead of the single pivot (below) – usually Enzo Fernández – with Sterling continuing to work around Jackson in what often looked more like a front two.

Wide pairings

In a slight throwback, both teams looked to their wide pairings of full-back and winger to attack on both sides of the pitch. Robertson worked to overlap Luis Díaz on the Liverpool left, with Gomez tending to invert but still willing to overlap when Elliott – who moved back wide when Bobby Clark replaced Conor Bradley – rolled inside from the right. Gakpo’s continued dropping (below) helped the Reds progress the ball forward through midfield, but as a result they often lacked penetration in behind the Chelsea defence. This forced them into making extra passes and giving their opponents more time to get set in their block.

Chelsea also looked to their wide pairings, with Palmer and Gusto looking a threat when the former held his width. Gusto’s delayed runs from deep took players away from Palmer, who then had an opportunity to cut inside and create chances. Christopher Nkunku replaced Sterling on the left; his movements inside gave Chilwell the chance to push forward and overlap early.

Gallagher drifted, sometimes supporting Jackson but also at times joining the wide pairings (below) before crashing the box. Two significant chances fell his way with the scores still level, often coming after switches from left to right, but he wasn’t able to take either as the game went to extra-time.

Liverpool’s youthful intensity

The energy and intensity from Liverpool’s young players tilted the momentum in their favour in extra-time. They continued to utilise wide pairings, with substitute Kostas Tsimikas advancing in support of Clark on the left side. Díaz moved into a central-forward role, alongside another young replacement in Jayden Danns (below), with Wataru Endo joined by James McConnell in what now operated as a midfield double pivot. On the right side, Elliott held the width more through extra-time, sneaking in at the back post on multiple occasions and benefiting from Gomez’s midfield movements to pull Chelsea players inwards.

In the end, though, after having a headed goal disallowed in normal time, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk rose best to meet a Tsimikas corner from the right. In doing so, he earned his team their second League Cup under Klopp.

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