Van Dijk’s goal at the end of extra time earned Liverpool the League Cup

This Sunday, Liverpool won the EFL Cup for the 10th time in their history, beating Chelsea 1-0, with captain Virgil van Dijk’s goal coming right at the end of extra time.

At Wembley Stadium in London, the Dutch defender scored in the 118th minute with a header from a corner taken by Greek Tsimikas after the referee disallowed the goal for offside in the 60th minute.

Chelsea, seeking to win their sixth League Cup, were the first team to score at Wembley, but Sterling’s 30th-minute goal was also disallowed due to incorrect positioning.

Both teams, separated by 22 points in the English league under Liverpool, played a balanced game with several opportunities for both sides, but in which Chelsea eventually broke through in extra time.

Without Salah and Darwin Nunez, both with physical problems as well as Portugal’s Diogo Jota, the Liverpool manager was forced to change his team in the 28th minute after Dutchman Gravenberch remained injured, calling on defender Joe Gomez.

As in the 2022 final, in which both teams won the trophy in a penalty shootout in favor of the Reds, the game ended goalless at the end of normal time.

With a penalty shoot-out already expected, Van Dijk broke the deadlock to decide Manchester United’s successor to the trophy, which Liverpool won consecutively between 1981 and 1984 and again in 1995. , 2001, 2003, 2012 and 2022.

Liverpool thus strengthened their status as the record holders for the most trophies in this competition, now having more trophies than second-ranked Manchester City, which has eight.

Chelsea, having had a poor season as evidenced by their eighth-place finish in the Premier League, lost momentum in extra time, having several scoring chances, one of which was Gallagher’s powerful strike on the post.

With five League Cups in their history, the London side last lifted the trophy in 2015, losing on penalties to Manchester City in the 2019 final and in 2022 to their opponents this Sunday.