Jurgen Klopp's farewell: Liverpool take a step closer to the quadruple with EFL Cup victory over Chelsea

When Jurgen Klopp made the shock announcement that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season back in January, the emphasis on the Reds winning the quadruple suddenly grew much greater.

The Reds were already poised to challenge on all possible fronts, leading the Premier League table, booking their place in the League Cup final, progressing in the FA Cup, and reaching the round of 16 of the Europa League.

However, the news that Klopp would be departing Anfield after nine years in Merseyside meant that the significance of a potential unprecedented quadruple rose, as everyone involved with the club is keen to give the German coach the farewell he deserves.

One of those four boxes is already ticked as well, as Liverpool recently won the League Cup thanks to a 1-0 win over their old rivals Chelsea at Wembley.

Despite having a long list of absentees, including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson, Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah, and Darwin Nunez, the Reds were still more fancied than their London counterparts in the football betting.

It was a cagey affair nonetheless. Former Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling appeared to give Chelsea the lead in the first half, but his provider, Nicolas Jackson, was deemed to be offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

The best chance of the first half fell to Cody Gakpo, as the Dutch attacker was gifted a free header within close range. However, his effort hit the inside of the post, and Mauricio Pochettino must have breathed a sigh of relief.

15 minutes into the second half, it was Liverpool’s turn to have a goal ruled out by VAR. Virgil van Dijk rose the highest to head home, but the assistant ruled that Endo — who was initially stood in an offside position — interfered with play as he blocked Chelsea defender Levi Colwill.



The Blues arguably had the better chances from there to seal the win, with Conor Gallagher notably failing to convert a couple of big opportunities late on alongside some key saves from Liverpool’s backup goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

Chelsea seemed happy to settle for penalties as the game entered extra-time, but Liverpool were reinvigorated by their youthful substitutions, and Van Dijk headed in the winning goal in the 118th minute to secure Klopp his second League Cup success with the Reds.

"It’s absolutely insane," the Liverpool manager said afterwards. "These things are not possible! A team, a squad, an academy full of character. It’s unbelievable what happened here tonight.

"I’m so proud that I could be part of that tonight. Wow! The crazy stuff is we deserved it. Yes, we had lucky moments, they had lucky moments. That’s fine. It was a tough game for 120 minutes. The boys showed up and it was really cool."

This is still only the beginning of a crucial couple of months for Liverpool though. The Reds are top of the table by just one point and are still the second favourites to Manchester City in the Premier League title odds, while they still need to navigate through several rounds of the FA Cup and Europa League.