11 stats from Liverpool’s remarkable League Cup final victory vs. Chelsea
Liverpool won the 2024 League Cup after Virgil van Dijk’s dramatic extra-time winner was enough to secure a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were without a host of big-name stars for the match, including Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai.
But the Reds played their part in an enthralling encounter against big-spending Chelsea, with both sides having chances to win the match in normal time.
As Chelsea tired, Liverpool bought on a host of teenagers and had the better of extra-time before Van Dijk headed home a corner in the 119th minute.
It means Klopp’s side have achieved the first part of a potential quadruple in the manager’s farewell season and we’ve collected 11 remarkable stats from the game.
– Jayden Danns (18), Bobby Clark (19) and James McConnell (19) all featured for Liverpool in this final – the most teenagers to appear in a League Cup final for a team since Arsenal in 2007 (4 – Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Denilson and Armand Traore).
– Liverpool’s winner – scored by Van Dijk in the 118th minute – was the latest winning goal scored in a League Cup final since Aston Villa’s Brian Little in 1977 (119th minute v Everton).
Absolute SCENES at Wembley! 🔥
Virgil van Dijk heads home in the dying moments of extra-time! 🔴 pic.twitter.com/t4KFoeljyR
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 25, 2024
– Van Dijk also won 100% of his tackles, made seven clearances and two key interceptions, providing leadership to an increasingly inexperienced Liverpool side.
– The Reds captain has scored in 21 Liverpool games since arriving in January 2018. Liverpool have won every single one of them.
– While Conor Bradley put in another impressive display. Starting at right-back, Bradley also won 100% of his tackles including one where he was last man. The Northern Irishman has taken to life at Anfield like a duck to water.
– But Man of the Match for the Reds was surely Kelleher; the goalkeeper made nine saves to thwart Chelsea during an end-to-end 90 minutes.
– The Republic of Ireland international was so heroic that he prevented 2.44xG’s worth of chances from going into his net. Somebody build that man a statue…
– Liverpool have become the first team in English Football League history to win the League Cup 10 times.
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– Chelsea are the first side in English football history to lose six consecutive domestic cup finals (2019 League Cup, 2020 FA Cup, 2021 FA Cup, 2022 League Cup, 2022 FA Cup, 2024 League Cup). No wonder Gary Neville called them ‘blue billion-pound bottlejobs’.
– After 388 games in charge of Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea, Mauricio Pochettino is still waiting for his first trophy in English football.
– Meanwhile, Klopp has now won eight trophies at Liverpool. Only Bob Paisley (20), Bill Shankly (11) and Kenny Dalglish (9) have won more.
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