Liverpool beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties, after drawing 1-1 in 90 minutes.
The opening 40 minutes of the game was extremely cagey from both sides, with scrappy moments and a lack of quality.
But in the 40th minute, the game sparked into life, with Moises Caicedo making a run in behind, drawing the foul and winning a penalty, which Morgan Rogers calmly slotted home from the spot to make it 1-0.
Just three minutes later, Liverpool were slotting home a penalty of their own to make it 1-1, after Wesley Fofana handballed a cross coming in from a corner to award Liverpool with a penalty, which Cody Gakpo then converted.
The second half had more chances than the first, but still lacked quality, with both sides making changes in an attempt to sway the game, but to no avail.
With the game going to penalties, it was ultimately decided with a Joe Gomes top corner finish, followed by a Fofana miss, sending Liverpool through to the quarter-final of the competition and making it five penalty shoot-out victories in a row for Liverpool against Chelsea.
In this article, we’ll cover
Big lineup changes
Coming into the game, Xabi Alonso was forced into at least one change, as Cole Palmer was suspended after his dismissal against Tottenham at the weekend. This saw Romeo Lavia coming into midfield alongside Caicedo and Jordan Henderson, to form more of a 4-3-3.
Alonso made a further three changes, with Levi Colwill, Jorrel Hato and Geovany Quenda dropping out, replaced by Wesley Fofana, Malo Gusto and Danny Welbeck leading the line, after Rogers attempted to do so against Tottenham.
The rest of the starting XI was made up of Mike Penders between the sticks, Maxence Lacroix and Josh Acheampong at the back, with Rogers moving back over to the left and Pedro Neto on the right.
Andoni Iraola made seven changes of his own as Liverpool prepare to face Arsenal at the weekend in the Premier League.
Alisson Becker, Jeremy Jacquet, Milos Kerkez, Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola and Alexander Isak were the seven to make way, with Giorgi Mamardashvili, Joe Gomez, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Trey Nyoni, James McConnell, Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas coming in.
The rest of Liverpool’s XI was made up of Virgil Van Dijk and Ronald Araujo at the back, Ryan Gravenberch in midfield and Cody Gakpo off the left.
Liverpool’s plan
Liverpool set up with the ball in their usual staggered 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 shape, with the back four spread out in the build up and Nyoni acting as the deepest pivot player.
Meanwhile, Chelsea set up in more of a 4-4-2 midblock shape, with Henderson joining Welbeck in the front two from midfield.
Gravenberch would then operate between the Chelsea front two, with McConnell operating behind the midfield line, while Ngumoha and Koumas held the width and Gakpo led the line.
But it was the rotations down Liverpool’s left-hand side which looked to exploit Chelsea’s out-of-possession approach, starting with the movement of Nyoni.
Rather than looking to find bounce passes through the centre to find the spare player in midfield while Nyoni and McConnell operated alongside Gravenberch to give Liverpool a similar 3v2 that Tottenham were able to get at the weekend against Chelsea, Nyoni dropped below the front two, giving Liverpool their 3v2 in the first line.
Simultaneously, Tsimikas pushed further forward, dragging Neto deeper, while Ngumoha drifted slightly inside, which pushed Chelsea into a back five shape at times. Gomez also pushed up on the left, dragging Rogers away from the front two and forcing Chelsea deeper.
These moments allowed Liverpool to get control of the game for certain periods, working the ball from side to side until one of Welbeck or Henderson couldn’t get across to cover the “free” player, who could walk it forwards and look to progress.
However, even when Liverpool had settled possession, their best moments came from Ngumoha down the left, looking to go 1v1 against Acheampong, who defended many of these moments well, while Neto also worked hard to double up when he could.
Chelsea’s plan
Chelsea had slightly more of the ball against Liverpool than they did against Tottenham at the weekend, having better moments of composure to connect a few passes and gather control from second balls, with Lavia playing a big part in that.
Alonso set the Blues up with Gusto pushing up from left-back into an advanced position to hold the width, allowing Rogers to drift inside.
Chelsea also played with three in midfield, something they haven’t yet done this season, with Lavia at the base, while Henderson and Caicedo operated more as number eights.
Caicedo was one of the brighter sparks in this role, making more advanced seam runs (as he did to win the penalty), but also roaming to win second balls and reset possession, helping Chelsea’s level of control.
When Chelsea did manage to settle into their phases of possession, the best opportunities to exploit Liverpool’s defensive shape came down Chelsea’s left, with Rogers drifting centrally, dragging Gomez narrow with him and allowing Gusto to arrive into space.
Acheampong had some of these moments down the right too, with Neto drifting inside at times to open the space for the young Englishmen to arrive into the space. Marco Palestra also came from the bench in the 68th minute, combining with Rogers in this exact pattern, creating space for the Italian to arrive and get a shot away which was saved by Mamardashvili.
While Alonso clearly had a plan to create space in wide areas for the full-backs to arrive and get balls into the box, the execution was poor and a few profiling questions considering the game plan could be asked.
Palestra not starting on the left, who is much stronger on his left-foot and better at arriving in those wide left areas.
Estevao not starting, despite being someone who naturally wants to come inside and combine in central areas, as Neto did on a few occasions to open space for Acheampong.
All eyes will now be on the Manchester United game this weekend for Chelsea fans, after losing to both Tottenham and now Liverpool in the space of five days, Alonso will need a reaction this weekend.