Jurgen Klopp’s final season at Liverpool seems to be headed towards an ecstatic end, and he seems to be leaving the club in safe hands as Liverpool’s youngsters took center stage in their victorious EFL Cup final against Chelsea.
Klopp’s side had incurred injuries galore, and was depleted in all departments due to notable absentees such as Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Diogo Jota.
But, this proved to be the golden opportunity for Klopp to inject the squad with some young blood as the likes of 20-year-olds Conor Bradley and Harvey Elliott started the game for Liverpool, before introducing Bobby Clark (19), James McConnell (19), Jayden Danns (18) and Jarell Quansah (21) from the bench.
Liverpool had the most teenagers in a League Cup final since Arsenal in 2007.
In a hard-fought battle against the Chelsea Blues, Liverpool ultimately triumphed with a header from captain Virgil Van Dijk in the last dying minutes of extra time to seal the deal.
After the match, Van Dijk himself heaped praise on the influence the youngsters had on the game and shared his elation for having captured his first trophy as Liverpool captain.
“All the young boys on the pitch, in extra time. It’s incredible, I’m so proud of the boys,” Van Dijk said.
“They all played their part in what we achieved today. Intense game for both sides. They had chances we had chances. Amazing.
“First trophy as Liverpool captain. It’s all for the fans so let’s enjoy it.”
Then, it was manager Jurgen Klopp, who also showered glory on the newcomers, for helping him clinch his seventh major trophy as Liverpool manager with their relentless grit and work-rate.
“What happened here is absolutely insane. These things are not possible, what an academy full of character, it’s unbelievable what happened,” Klopp said.
“I’m so proud that I could be part of that, wow. We deserve it, we had lucky moments they had lucky moments and the boys showed up, it was really cool.
“I’m pretty sure when we brought on all the kids people thought ‘OK that’s it now, they give up, they have a game on Wednesday’ but that was really not the case.
“We thought we need fresh legs and the fresh legs were fresh but very young. They did the job.”
Jurgen Klopp’s farewell season at Liverpool seems to be a promising one, as the Reds are still in contention for the Premier League title, in the hunt for an FA Cup as well as the UEFA Europa League.
(with inputs from agencies)
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