This was the second Wembley meeting of the season for Liverpool and Chelsea and just as it was in the Carabao cup, this was a tight affair. Decided by the smallest of margins.
A lot of these players looked tired by the hour mark. Heavy legs after a long season, after everything that both clubs have endured this season. For Chelsea, the impending takeover has cast a shadow over proceedings in recent weeks while Liverpool have fought valiantly on all fronts.
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Balance Of Play
Regardless of how tight things were, both teams still managed to carve out openings. From half chances to decent ones. All of them went begging. Chelsea needed to find a breakthrough and they almost got it in normal time. There were big opportunities for Christian Pulisic and Marcos Alonso in the first half and Alonso again after the interval. The left wing-back also rattled the crossbar with a free kick. Luis Diaz went close for Liverpool on more than one occasion, also rattling the crossbar.
Liverpool had to cope without Mohamed Salah from the 32nd minute after the winger picked up an injury. This will be a major worry for Liverpool as they countdown to the Champions League final on May 28. As Salah limped off, on came Diogo Jota, who wasted a fine chance before the interval. Mané led a break and laid the ball off to Robertson who found Jota in space only for him to fire over.
Penalty Delight For Liverpool
And so we went once again, to penalties. Unlike the Carabao cup final, this had fewer penalties and more misses. César Azpilicueta missed the second Chelsea penalty and Sadio Mané missed what could have been the winner. His penalty was brilliantly saved by Édouard Mendy, his Senegal teammate.
Chelsea’s joy did not last. Alisson was the Liverpool hero in the second round of sudden death. He went the right way to deny Mason Mount’s feeble effort. Liverpool substitute Kostas Tsimikas kept a calm head to send Mendy the wrong way to win it for Liverpool.
