Liverpool beat Chelsea in the EFL Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, February 25
Liverpool claim English football’s first domestic cup of the season with a 1-0 win against Chelsea after extra time.
Reds captain Virgil van Dijk scored the only goal of the game deep into extra time at Wembley Stadium in London, the United Kingdom.
Liverpool extend their record English Football League (EFL) haul to a 10th trophy.
Reds manager Jurgen Klopp has announced he is leaving the club at the end of the season, during which he and his team will battle for three more trophies.
Chelsea haven’t won a domestic trophy in six years while their new manager Mauricio Pochettino has yet to win a title in English football.
Chelsea beat Middlesbrough (6-2 on aggregate) and Liverpool beat Fulham (3-2 on aggregate) in their respective semifinals.
Liverpool have won the League Cup for the 10th time – the most by any team in the history of the competition. Two of those have come under current manager Jürgen Klopp, with only Bob Paisley (3) winning it more often in charge of the Reds.
Chelsea have lost in each of their last three League Cup finals (2019, 2022 and 2024) – this after only losing two of their first seven finals in the competition between 1965 and 2015.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has only won one of his 14 games as a manager against Jürgen Klopp (D5 L8), going winless in eight matches since recording his only such victory (Spurs 4-1 Liverpool in October 2017).
Liverpool have gone to extra-time in each of their last five League Cup finals (2005, 2012, 2016, 2022 and 2024), as well as in nine of their 11 final matches in the competition played at Wembley.
Liverpool’s winner – scored by Virgil Van Dijk in the 118th minute – was the latest winning goal scored in a League Cup final since Aston Villa’s Brian Little in the 1977 final (119th minute v Everton).
Virgil Van Dijk scored in consecutive games for the first time in his Liverpool career (vs Luton and Chelsea), with today’s final being his 252nd appearance for the club.
In the form of Ryan Gravenberch (21), Conor Bradley (20), and Harvey Elliott (20), Liverpool started three players aged 21 or younger in a major final for the very first time in the club’s history.
Jayden Danns (18), Bobby Clark (19) and James McConnell (19) all featured for Liverpool in this final – the most teenagers to appear in a League Cup final for a team since Arsenal in 2007 (four – Walcott, Fabregas, Denilson and Traore).
Enzo Fernández made his 50th start for Chelsea across all competitions, the most starts by any player for the Blues since his club debut in February 2023.
Liverpool have made 217 changes to their starting XI across all competitions this season, 54 more than the Premier League team with the next most line-up changes (Manchester City, 163). FOR MORE UPDATES CLICK…