After a great match ended goallessly, the very first 21 penalties were already successfully converted. Then Kepa Arrizabalaga, who came on at the end of extra time, hit the crossbar with his penalty.
Until that point, the game had been based on two main other goalkeepers: Caiomhin Kelleher and Edouard Mendy, who had combined to make a series of great saves to hold the score at 0-0. Throughout, a frenetic contest ebbed and went. Both teams had some fantastic attacking play, with Kai Havertz and Luis Diaz standing out in particular. Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount both squandered great first-half chances, while Mendy made an incredible reaction save from Sadio Mane.
In the second half, Joel Matip thought he had put Liverpool ahead, but VAR intervention and the goal was disallowed due to offside by Virgil van Dijk in the construct. Chelsea also had three goals disallowed for offside — two by Havertz and one by Romelu Lukaku due to a razor-thin judgement.
Despite all of the opportunities, the game ended in penalties. Kepa was brought on by Thomas Tuchel to be the saviour, just as he had been previously in the season in the Super Cup victory over Villarreal. Instead, he became the culprit in a surprise that no one could have predicted. The beauty of it is that in the shoot-out, everyone single player who was remained on the ground at the end of extra time was awarded a penalty. In many ways, the score of 11-10 is wonderful for a shootout.
Twenty-two penalties, increasing drama with each passing second, and not a single save! The 90 minutes went incredible, and the shootout was even better. What an action-packed couple of hours. The song You’ll Never Walk Alone begins to play. Klopp’s Liverpool takes the Carabaoup home after 10 years.
