The experienced head of Virgil Van Dijk guided Liverpool’s kids to Carabao Cup glory as Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour gathered its first piece of silverware.
The Dutch headed home from an 118th-minute winner corner after having an earlier effort controversially disallowed by VAR as the Reds condemned Chelsea to a sixth consecutive Wembley Cup final defeat.
Virgil van Dijk’s 118th-minute header handed Liverpool the Carabao Cup
The Reds captain netted late on against Chelsea at Wembley
Klopp had sent three teenage subs into the fray but still saw his injury-ravaged side defeat Chelsea’s billionaires as they completed the first leg of a potential quadruple.
In a chaotic, VAR-infested final, Raheem Sterling had a first-half effort tuled out by a linesman’s flag.
But as Klopp’s Liverpool reign comes to a silvery conclusion, Chelsea’s new era is no closer to getting off the ground.
Mauricio Pochettino, still yet to win a trophy in English football, was embarrassed by his side suffering defeat against such patched-up, youthful opposition.
With Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez, and Dominik Szoboszlai all failing to be passed fit, the Liverpool team sheet ought to have been heartening for Pochettino and his players.
The atmosphere on Wembley Way had been underwhelming as supporters of two elite clubs all too used to playing finals here mingled quietly.
Chelsea had lost two of those previous five finals in penalty shoot-outs against the Reds after goalless draws in 2022, and this was heading towards a similar conclusion until Van Dijk’s late strike.
The Blues made a fretful start, with Levi Colwill looking particularly jittery at the heart of the defense, and their keeper, Djordje Petrovic, was soon forced into a decent save from a powerful Luis Diaz shot.
Still, once they woke up, Chelsea came close on 21 minutes. Palmer was offered a clear sight of goal but was blocked off by Conor Bradley, only for Palmer’s close-range effort to be brilliantly saved by Caoimhin Kelleher.
Then it was time for VAR to do its usual thing: get everything wrong.
Moises Caicedo was guilty of a horrible late challenge on Ryan Gravenberch, which left him writhing on the touchline but Chris Kavanagh, consistently one of the Premier League’s worst officials, missed it, and his VAR, John Brooks, did not think it worthy of a straight red card.
Gravenberch was withdrawn, replaced by Joe Gomez, forcing Bradley to move into midfield in a major reshuffle from Klopp.
That mistake was evened up by a dodgy offside call, which ruled out a Raheem Sterling goal.
Jackson was fed by Cole Palmer’s through pass, and he squared for Sterling to find the net.
However, Jackson was called for offside, and even though the Chelsea striker appeared to be onside, Brooks declined to intervene once more.
Liverpool came dangerously close twice, first through Cody Gakpo’s header that crashed against the post and then through Brdaley’s shot that was blocked following more dangerous work from Diaz.
It was entertaining in a scruffy, scrappy, fractious way, and before halftime, Ben Chilwell and Bradley were booked for a shoving match after a tangle on the touchline.
After the break, Diaz was cheerleading the Liverpool fans after forcing a corner, and Harvey Elliott had an acrobatic effort pushed out by Petrovic.
Andy Robertson swung in a free-kick from the left, and Van Dijk scored with a towering header, only for the effort to be disallowed by the forensics department spotting a block by an offside Wataru Endo on Colwill.
Chelsea’s fans celebrated wildly. When you dream of the Wembley Cup finals as a kid, that’s precisely the kind of moment you have in mind.
In a wild, open match, higher on tempo than quality, Brooks’ intervention felt particularly weird.
It was error-ridden and end-to-end: Axel Disasi missed from two yards when the ball deflected off his knee, then Cody Gakpo spooned one over for Liverpool, and Gallagher clipped a shot against the post from a Palmer centre.
Gallagher was piling up the missed chances, first dithering and allowing Kelleher to smother his shot and then firing wide after Nicolas Jackson’s run had been halted by Ibrahima Konate.
Klopp sent on three teenagers: Bobby Clark, Jayden Danns, and James McConnell.
And with two such inexperienced sides going hell for leather it was playground football stuff, exemplified by a mad scramble in the Liverpool area in injury time that ended with Kelleher denying Christopher Nkunku.
Extra-time was largely uneventful until Harvey Elliott’s close-range header was thwarted by Petrovic sticking out a leg.
Then Liverpool forced a corner, Tsimikas delivered it to the near post, and Van Dijk shook off Disasi and snuck in front of Mykhailo Mudryk to head inside the far post.
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