Liverpool booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup after a thrilling contest with Chelsea ended with a penalty shoot-out.
An entertaining fourth round clash finished 1-1 after 90 minutes with each side successfully converting a penalty late in the first half before the game was ultimately decided on spot-kicks.
Morgan Rogers put Chelsea ahead – successfully firing home from the spot – after Ryan Gravenberch’s clumsy foul on Moises Caicedo inside the area. But the Blues barely had any time to celebrate holding the lead, as Liverpool went down the other end and won themselves a penalty after a bizarre handball by Wesley Fofana whilst attempting to defend a corner.
Cody Gakpo stepped up and slotted home to level it up at 1-1 just before the break.
Mike Penders was the busier of the two goalkeepers in the second half and certainly made amends for his error against Spurs last weekend, with a flurry of fine stops to keep Liverpool at bay whilst down the other end Marco Palestra forced home ‘keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili into an excellent save as the tie.
That ensured penalties loomed with some nice spot-kicks despatched in the early stages before the misses started to arrive. Valentin Barco and Kostas Tsimikas missed in quick succession before ex-Red Jordan Henderson levelled it back up at 4-4. The scores then went to 5-5 before Gravenberch and Emmanuel Emegha saw their efforts missed.
Joe Gomez then put Liverpool 6-5 up and the crucial moment came when Fofana crashed his penalty way over the bar to send the hosts through. They’ll welcome Andoni Iraola’s former club Bournemouth to Anfield in the next round.
Iraola said afterwards: “It was a level game. There was not a lot of chances for both teams but we are really happy with the performances of the players.
“You have to keep the concentration levels and the control. Giorgi [Mamardashvili] has improved at stopping a lot of the shots. That’s three (wins) at home in a row which is very important. We were struggling at home in the league but now we go against Arsenal on Sunday.”
Beaten Chelsea chief Xabi Alonso said: “Every time you reach the penalties, someone will feel it is harsh to go out of the competition. It was really close from both sides. Penalties mean it is open to anything.
“They have performed at a good enough level to compete at Anfield. We conceded the penalty and it was even. The game was really close for both sides.”
