Wembley (United Kingdom) – Liverpool won their first major trophy of the season in England by defeating Chelsea on penalties (0-0, 11-10 AP Penn) in the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. final raise.

Despite the great spectacle and many opportunities for both sides, the epilogue was brutal, especially for the Blues goalkeeper, Kepa, who notably returned for a penalty shootout in place of Edouard Mendy, and who started his club’s loss. Had it. 22nd attempt of the session.

Thomas Tuchel had warned that he would not feel in goal and, despite the very good course made by Basque in the cages during the competition, preferred Mendy at kick-off.

After Lille in the Champions League on Tuesday, he once again left Romelu Lukaku on the bench, choosing light cavalry, in the absence of injured Hakim Ziyech, with Christian Pulisic behind Mason Mount and Kai Havertz.

The match was embraced by Chelsea, who succumbed in the first ten minutes, perhaps when the Reds took time to adapt to the return of injured Thiago Alcantara in the warm-up, and was replaced by Nabi Keita. .

But soon, Liverpool regained control of the ball, looking content to try their luck against Chelsea, as their starting eleven had predetermined them.

– Boxing game –

Suspiciously, both teams actually took time to create dangerous chances, Sadio Mane on the header (19th) and Mohamed Salah on the indirect free kick (21st), were unusually clumsy.

But the frenetic pace of the game never wavered, and Mendy fully justified his status as Chelsea’s lucky charm in the final, performing an exceptional double parry on Keita’s sixteen-metre strike, followed by Mane six meters. He managed to divert attention after a recovery at a distance of . Up (30th).

He was face-to-face with Luis Diaz, sparking on Sunday (75th), or a corner that Diaz and Joel Matip could not convert (85th).

At the start of extra time, he again rested beautifully on his left side and closed a header from Van Dijk from a corner (90+1).

He was sometimes saved from a return by Thiago Silva on a soft ball from Salah (64th) and by VAR, which revealed that Virgil van Dijk had turned the action into an offside position on a disallowed goal at Matip (69th). had influenced.

But we should not assume that Chelsea only faced what was a real boxing fight between two opponents with different styles, but with the same desire to take on a tough fight.

– Lukaku, so close to redemption –

Thomas Tuchel must still wonder how Mason Mount was able to miss his two big opportunities, a volley seven meters from goal that didn’t hit the frame (45th) and a shot, a start behind the defence. The latter, who dropped the goal after hitting. Koimhin Kelleher’s left position was preferred by Jurgen Klopp (49th) until Alisson’s end.

We may also have had a very good redemption story to tell if the subtle deviation in Romelu Lukaku’s heel, in place of Mt., entered 20 minutes from the end of regulation time to the end, a lot by Kelleher. Attention was not made, or if a goal was revoked by VAR for a millimeter offside during extra time.

So it was only shot on target to decide between the two teams, and Tuchel, who had never lost a final with Chelsea, would undoubtedly regret his missed poker move, when everyone had achieved a no-fault so far. .

Liverpool won their first trophy of the season and their first League Cup with Klopp.

He succeeds Manchester City, who have won the previous 4 editions, and the Reds again become the only record holders to win the competition with 9 trophies against 8 for the Nationals.