Liverpool beat Chelsea 1-0 in the Carabao Cup final after extra time and captain Virgil van Dijk earned himself plaudits from an England legend in the process of for his heroics
Former England hero Gary Lineker waxed lyrical about the contributions of club captain Virgil van Dijk after Liverpool won the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.
The Reds won 1-0 after extra time, with their gutsy defensive work rewarded in the 118th minute of the action as the Dutchman showed his experience to earn victory. Evading the challenge of his marker, Van Dijk was the coolest man inside Wembley Stadium as he scored the winning goal from a corner taken by Kostas Tsimikas.
Before that, Liverpool appeared to have scored when Van Dijk headed the ball in from an Andy Robertson cross in the 60th minute of a tight contest in London. But then VAR officials decided against awarding the goal as Wataru Endō was deemed to have been offside and in the way of Chelsea’s Levi Colwill during the free-kick.
Even though that goal didn’t count, Liverpool and Van Dijk did not let that disappointment derail them on the day as the latter still managed to score later and win the Carabao Cup final. Just after the Reds skipper’s goal, Match of the Day host Lineker shared his thoughts on X, formerly Twitter, as he spoke in effusive terms about the Liverpool captain.
“He’s an absolute boss is @VirgilvDijk,” said the ex-Everton and Barcelona star. Liverpool had some tough moments in the game. Ryan Gravenberch had to leave the pitch on a stretcher following Moisés Caicedo’s challenge as they rode their luck to see out a famous win in the capital.
Reds boss Jürgen Klopp made full use of his substitutes during the match, with star players like James McConnell, Bobby Clark, Jayden Danns and Jarell Quansah all getting a run out in the second half of extra time. Before the game even started, Klopp had to contend with a lengthy injury list.
Big names like Mohamed Salah, Darwin Núñez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Alisson Becker, Joël Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Ben Doak were all sidelined due to various injuries. However, it was clear that the stars that were fit to face Chelsea were not willing to let a depleted squad get in the way of victory.