Last Sunday, Liverpool FC defeated Chelsea FC by a narrow 1-0 result. Virgil van Dijk scored the winner for the Reds in the 118th minute of the Carabao Cup final.
Consequently, Liverpool won the title, handing ‘The Blues’ yet another defeat in a final. In fact, the Londoners have lost their last seven finals, making them the first English team with such a negative streak in title deciders.
What’s more, Liverpool are considered Chelsea’s bête noire, as, of those seven lost finals, the last three have been against ‘The Reds’. They were defeated twice by Klopp’s pupils in both 2022 (EFL Cup and FA Cup) and 2024 (EFL Cup).
The three previous lost finals date back to 2021 (in the FA Cup against Leicester City) and 2019 (in the FA Cup and EFL Cup against Arsenal and Manchester City respectively).
A hard-fought final:
Despite losing in extra time, Pochettino‘s pupils had victory in their hands. The Londoners put together a very attractive performance on the pitch and had clear scoring chances that were stopped by an immaculate Caoimhín Kelleher.
The Irish keeper was in goal after the injury of starting goalkeeper Allison Becker, becoming the hero of the match by saving his team from conceding several goals.
Raheem Sterling even scored a goal that could have considerably swayed the result of the match in the first half, but it would not be awarded as the play was ruled offside.
Finally, in the 118th minute, Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk converted a cross from a corner kick executed by Konstantinos Tsimikas. This came as a bitter blow to Chelsea’s players, who fell dejected after the goal.
The future is uncertain:
As of today, Chelsea FC are eleventh in the league table with 35 points, very far from the positions that grant access to European competitions. The limit of the top sector of the table is set by Manchester United, who rank sixth with 44 points.
Going another season without playing in Europe would be catastrophic for the team managed by Pochettino. The Argentinian manager’s future is uncertain as he does not know if he will stay on the job for the upcoming weeks.
Their only chance left lies in the FA Cup, a competition in which they’ll face Leeds United in the round of 16.
The domestic cup would be the perfect opportunity to break their negative streak of lost finals, which has never been seen before in English football. In addition to winning a title three years later (their last trophy was the European Super Cup in 2021), they would earn a spot in next season’s Europa League.
Translated by Nuño Alonso.
Main image: @ChelseaFC.
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