For Liverpool, deliverance will come from Virgil Van Dijk. Already the author of a goal at the hour mark, refused after review of the video, the Dutch defender persisted and signed during extra time of the League Cup final to score the only goal of the match (1-0 , 118th) against Chelsea with an unstoppable header.
As in 2022, Chelsea and Liverpool met at Wembley to compete in the League Cup final. And as in 2022, tempers rose and the first half was muscular, marked by a large number of faults (17), notably from a beleaguered London defense. But especially by Caicedo’s attack on Gravenberch’s ankle, forced out on a stretcher, and by the fight at the end of the period between Chilwell and Bradley. Also, Sterling scored, but the goal was refused for an offside of a few centimeters from Jackson beforehand (33rd), then Gakpo hit the post before the break.
When we returned from the locker room, the pace did not drop, on the contrary. It was Liverpool who had a goal taken away, on a header from Virgil Van Dijk (60th), and Gallagher flirted with the post in turn. After multiple chances, and saves galore from Petrovic and Kelleher, the two teams dragged themselves into overtime, as in 2022…
But unlike their last clash in the final, one of the locks was broken. And it was Chelsea who paid the price after 30 additional minutes, just 1 minute from penalties. From a corner, Van Dijk took revenge on his mismatched goal, and delivered Liverpool with an angry header, beating an unhappy Petrovic. The first of Jürgen Klopp’s farewell meetings ended well, and his players gave him a nice gift to their coach. It might not be the last…