The Reds are 1-0 up going into Tuesday night’s second leg and Everton are leading 2-1 against Manchester City, making the first all-Merseyside cup final since 1989 a real prospect.
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Stoke won the match 1-0 after extra time thanks to Marko Arnautovic’s goal in first-half injury time, taking the match to penalties at 1-1 on aggregate.
There were no further goals in either normal time or extra time, so the game went to a penalty shootout.
Klopp will lead Liverpool out at Wembley on February 28, but maintained the occasion is all about his players. “You just have to look at Stoke’s stats with and without him”.
“I’m tall, you know”, Klopp said.
The goals given away at Carrow Road did not come directly from initial balls into the box – unlike those in the past six weeks alone from set pieces against West Bromwich Albion, Watford, Exeter and Arsenal, and those conceded from crosses against West Ham and Manchester United.
“I thought we were the better team, the dominant team, more likely to score”, Hughes said, “but we aren’t the ones going to Wembley”.
Klopp said: ‘This wonderful city has deserved it, of course. Klopp will be back at Wembley for the first time since he led Borussia Dortmund there in the all-German Champions League final in 2013, won by Bayern Munich.
Liverpool are in seventh place in the Premier League table after Saturday’s 5-4 victory over Norwich City.
Stoke provided Crouch with few opportunities to expose Liverpool’s aerial weakness from open play but his battle against Mamadou Sakho would prove crucial in dragging the France defender out of position for Stoke’s breakthrough.
“And it is important to us because if we can get to a final, win a trophy, then that gives you a winning mentality – you’ve experienced that as a group and that will help you to continue to progress”. But he maintained it was not too late for Liverpool to change their ways in dead-ball scenarios, and said players needed to forget mistakes because they have helped breed indecision.
Emre Can looked the most eager of manager Jurgen Klopp’s players to pepper the Stoke goal, but neither of his long-range efforts in the first half troubled goalkeeper Jack Butland. The distribution from both sides was very poor.
The neutrals don’t want a defensively sound Liverpool, they want more 5-4s.
Walters forced Mignolet into a decent save after he was sent through on goal by a raking Arnautovic ball in the 55th minute, and the Irishman again went close seven minutes later.
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The second half was a little better than the first half but neither side created any real clear cut chances.
