Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp finally added a domestic cup to his Liverpool trophy case as Liverpool defeated Chelsea 11-10 on penalties (0-0).
With the penalties reaching the goalkeepers, the beauty of this final was that every single player who was on the pitch at the time had a role in the outcome. An 11-10 penalty scoreline is a fan’s dream.
“I would have been fine with 90 minutes, 1-0 Liverpool and we go home,” Klopp said.
“I’m happy for the people, in difficult times, to celebrate something like this. It’s really nice. Chelsea were incredibly strong, we matched each other. You need to have luck, we needed luck tonight. The game could have been 5-5. We play Wednesday again, which I can’t believe at this moment, but Anfield will be rocking and we’ll give it a try.”
After losing to Bayern Munich while coaching Borussia Dortmund (2013), and being on the wrong end of the 2016 Champions League final between Manchester City and Liverpool, Klopp finally came out on top at Wembley.
“We were under full pressure for the penalties, everyone did very well,” Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk said. “We trained for it quite a bit.”
For Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, the strategy to substitute in Kepa Arrizabalaga for Edouard Mendy has worked before.
Chelsea did exactly that in their win in the European Super Cup final against Villarreal.
“We don’t know what would’ve happened if we left Edou on the pitch,” Tuchel said. “No blame on Kepa. Blame on me as I’m the guy who takes the decisions. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. This is life as a football coach.”
Klopp had nothing but good things to say about his goalkeeper.
“Alisson Becker is the best keeper in the world for me,” he started. “But if I am 100% honest, Kelleher is the best No.2 in the world for how we play.”
Kelleher has played 16 games for Liverpool. And three of them have been penalty shootout wins.
“I obviously was dreaming good things last night, that we would win, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d score a penalty at the Liverpool end, the winning penalty,” Kelleher said. “That’s next level!”
“An outstanding goalkeeper,” Van Dijk added. “He deserved to start today – I am just very happy for him. It will give him a boost and give him confidence. The way he played was so mature and so cool.”
Chelsea are in FA Cup action on Wednesday, 2 March against Luton Town. They match up in league playa against Burnley next Saturday, 5 March.
Liverpool also have little time to rest as they have a mid-week matchup against Norwich City in FA Cup fifth-round action before facing West Ham next weekend (5 March).
