The prospect of a cup final certainly brings with it plenty of expectation, due to which teams often opt to play safe rather than go all in.
Yesterday’s Carabao Cup final, however, was the exact opposite as Liverpool and Chelsea delivered 120 minutes of high octane football, which somehow ended up scoreless.
And so it moved on to penalties, and barring Kepa, every outfield player converted. Most of the spot-kicks were rather clinical as well, these two in particular were simply ice cold.
Fabinho risks it all –
A high stakes, win all or lose all sort of game is the final place one would expect to see the infamous ‘Panenka’.
The sheer amount of courage and poise required to attempt the manoeuvre, let alone execute it is immense, yet Fabinho pulled it off with relative ease and then jogged off calmly.
No amount of research could have prepared penalty expert Kepa for a ‘Panenka’, putting that into perspective, Fabinho’s decision making was rather ingenious.
Still thinking about that @_fabinhotavares pen, Reds?
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 28, 2022
Same. pic.twitter.com/JYpyjL2YLn
Van Dijk takes Kepa on –
Whatever the circumstance, Virgil van Dijk remains icy cold. The Dutch international even defends with a swagger about him, and his spot kick really sums it up.
Throughout the affair, Kepa attempted to play mind games with opposition penalty takers, from little comments to staredowns, he tried it all.
During Van Dijk’s turn, Kepa attempted to faze the centre back by standing near the right post, perhaps an attempt at making Van Dijk go left.
Nevertheless, VVD remained unfazed, he took Kepa on and fired a precision spot-kick in the right corner, out of reach of the Spaniard. The Liverpool man then stared Kepa down before rejoining his teammates.
Ice in those veins 🥶
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 28, 2022
What a penalty, @VirgilvDijk 👏 pic.twitter.com/pAvnpdPA1f
