Diogo Jota sealed Liverpool’s place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals following a rousing fightback and penalty shootout win over Leicester.
Brendan Rodgers has never won at Anfield since leaving the club six years ago and Leicester had not won here since 2000. They may never get a better chance.
The visitors were comfortably in the ascendency after two Jamie Vardy strikes and a stunning effort from James Maddison gave them a 3-1 half-time lead. But a determined Liverpool response, led by the substitute Jota and completed by Takumi Minamino’s injury-time equaliser, transformed the quarter-final in the second half and ensured it was decided via a shootout.
Liverpool’s reserve goalkeeper, Caoimhin Kelleher, saved twice from Luke Thomas and Ryan Bertrand. Minamino blazed over what could have been the winning spot-kick for the hosts but, following Bertrand’s weak attempt, Jota punished Leicester once more.
The approach taken by the former and current Liverpool managers had an early impact on the tie and on the threat posed by their respective sides in particular. Liverpool errors in the build-up to two Vardy goals in four minutes also contributed to the rueful smile on Klopp’s face.
Klopp handed a first senior start to Billy Koumetio and included the French central defender’s fellow teenagers Tyler Morton and Conor Bradley in a line-up that featured ten changes to Sunday’s starting XI at Tottenham. Even without positive Covid tests ruling out Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Thiago Alcãntara and Curtis Jones, it was a selection that might have been expected from the Liverpool manager given the circumstances, the schedule ahead and where the Carabao Cup figures on his list of priorities. Rodgers went much stronger, despite the Covid issues that had forced the postponement of Leicester’s last two Premier League games against Tottenham and Everton. He was repaid with an penetrating performance that should have produced a healthier half-time lead against an uncertain Liverpool defence.
Leicester cut through with their first attack. It was instigated, along with several others, by a wayward Liverpool pass. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall intercepted Joe Gomez’s telegraphed ball out of defence and sent Patson Daka sprinting away from the England international. Kelleher, standing-in for Alisson, stood up to save at his near post. But he was easily beaten when the visitors raided again. This time Kostas Tsimikas gave away possession cheaply, finding Boubakary Soumaré instead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as he attempted to break down the wing, and left his full-back position badly exposed. Soumaré exchanged passes with Ricardo Pereira before finding Maddison. The midfielder released Vardy with a delightful first-time ball and the veteran struck a clean, low finish beyond Kelleher into the far corner.
Vardy did not have to wait long to add to his 10th goal of the season. Leicester again attacked with speed and precision when Neco Williams lost possession to Dewsbury-Hall. He found Daka in space on the left for a second time and, as Koumetio closed down the space, the striker threaded a perfect ball behind the Liverpool defence for the unmarked Vardy to convert a convincing finish past Kelleher from close range.
Tsimikas made amends for his costly mistake when creating Liverpool’s swift response through Oxlade-Chamberlain. The Greece international flicked the ball over the head of Pereira, who was injured by a poor early foul from Morton and eventually forced off, and crossed deep for Williams to head into the path of Roberto Firmino. Liverpool’s fit-again centre-forward heeded the midfielder’s appeals for a pass to the edge of the penalty area and Oxlade-Chamberlain swept a fine shot into Kasper Schmeichel’s bottom right-hand corner.
The contest was wide open. The impressive Dewsbury-Hall denied Takumi Minamino inside the area with a solid challenge after Firmino had dispossessed Soumaré and sent the Japan international through on goal. Vardy created a chance for his hat-trick when bursting through Liverpool’s soft defensive centre. Only the alertness of Morton, who blocked the striker’s run and drew a foul, stopped him. But seconds later Leicester had their third. Maddison got a fortunate bounce of the ball when, collecting a pass from Dewsbury-Hall, he rode a challenge from Oxlade-Chamberlain. There was nothing fortuitous about the shot that followed. Glancing up from 25 yards out, the midfielder connected superbly to find the roof of the net from distance. It was a sweet, powerful effort but also straight down the middle of Kelleher’s goal, and the keeper’s reaction suggested he knew he should have done better.
Vardy almost made it four before the break when Gomez, making his first start since the fourth round win over Preston on 27 October, let a routine pass from Morton slip by. The Leicester forward pounced in an instant and, despite beating Kelleher once again, his low shot cannoned off the inside of the far post before being cleared by Gomez.
Klopp injected greater experience into his team with a triple half-time substitution and Liverpool’s cause was also helped by injuries to an already depleted visiting defence. Caglar Soyuncu joined Pereira on the injury list after stretching to block a Firmino shot. His replacement in what was now a five-man Leicester rearguard, Jannik Vestergaard, brought nothing like the same authority.
Jota, one of the three second-half introductions, lifted Anfield with a clinical shot beyond Schmeichel when released behind the Leicester defence by Minamino. He had another chance blocked in a goalmouth scramble and an instinctive header on a Naby Keïta drive saved superbly by Schmeichel before Minamino salvaged a shootout. There was six minutes of injury time being played when James Milner lifted a deep cross into the Leicester area. Wilfred Ndidi missed his clearing header and Minamino made no mistake on the half volley.