Universal emotions at Wembley, incredible drama. League Cup Final

The English League Cup Final is the first opportunity for English teams this season. The match takes place before the most important part of the competition. This final usually takes place around February, before the start of the Champions League for example. Winning a cup always represents a huge dose of positive energy for every team, regardless of the rank of title won. Before this year's final, it was clear that we would have a new champion. Manchester United won the title last year.

In this year's final, Liverpool and Chelsea faced each other at Wembley Stadium. On paper, it looks like a contest between two really strong teams. However, this is only a historical approach. Currently, Liverpool and Chelsea are in a completely different sporting reality. There is no doubt that the Anfield Road side are on a much better path to some potential success. Chelsea seems to be a big mess and a mess that's hard to clean up.

Therefore, before Sunday's final, the team was led by Jurgen Klopp, despite the absence of Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Darwin Nunez. She had to be treated as the favorite to win. Chelsea were right to stand behind a double guard and wait for quick counterattacks. For Liverpool, the potential win would be the tenth of its kind in history, while for Chelsea it would be the sixth.

The first half was played at a very fast pace, one could even say English. There was a lot going on on the field. The match was essentially goal-to-goal. We had everything in this half except the goal. We have witnessed great controversy. Ryan Gravenberch's ankle was attacked by a very strong tackle from Moises Caicedo and it seemed that the midfielder should have received a red card, but he did not even receive a yellow card. In the 33rd minute of the match, Chelsea scored a goal, but it was disallowed due to offside. All of this meant that the game was still fun to watch at half-time, despite the 0-0 scoreline.

The second half started very similarly. Once again, the pace of the match was at a really impressive level and the referees disallowed the goal once again. This time they scored a goal from Virgil van Dijk. The Dutchman found his way into the Chelsea penalty area very well and put the ball into the net. He himself was not in an offside position in this situation, but Wataru Endo was in an offside position, which resulted in a Chelsea player being obstructed. Therefore, after analyzing VAR, the referee decided not to award the goal. This decision can easily be called controversial.

But it must be recognized that canceling this goal added a lot of energy to Chelsea, which began to pose a much greater threat to Liverpool's goal. The Reds backup goalkeeper had to show his skills, even in the one-on-one clash with Conor Gallagher. One of Chelsea's captains couldn't beat the goalkeeper, in another situation the same player hit the post and we still had 0-0 on the scoreboard, but it certainly wasn't a boring scoreless draw. This was a normal result, although Chelsea should have won the game in the last 15 minutes, but Caoimhin Kelleher showed great form. The Irishman performed exceptionally well and no one remembered Alisson's absence. Only thanks to their goalkeeper did Liverpool reach extra time.

There was always a lot going on in overtime. Both teams had their chances, and once again the goalkeepers showed their amazing skills. In the end, Virgil van Dijk turned out to be the most important. The Dutchman scored the ball into the net for the second time in this match, but this time the referee had no reason to cancel the goal after a corner kick, so Liverpool returned to home with the League Cup again in its history.