Liverpool book their place in the final of the League Cup with a 6-5 penalty shootout victory over Stoke City at Anfield.
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Stoke won the match 1-0 after extra time through Marko Arnautovic’s first-half goal, and the semifinal finished 1-1 on aggregate.
The Reds have already shown they can beat City this season, though, while the Toffees defence has proved their undoing on many occasions already, so despite their own weaknesses, Liverpool still have a strong chance of lifting the Capital One Cup just four months after hiring Klopp.
Klopp said an obscured view rather than superstition was to blame as Joe Allen stepped up to strike the winning penalty over Stoke City.
Klopp said: ‘Usually I want to see them but people in the front row said they could not see because I am so tall.
“It was very important the players kept their nerves and were strong in their minds, and that’s what they did”.
“I thought we were more likely to score, but unfortunately we are not the ones going to Wembley”. “We want to taste what it feels like to win a trophy”. I don’t think Norwich [against Liverpool last Saturday] had a shot on goal which didn’t come from a set-play. “It is a great thing that they have rivalry in football but can be together so well, and I think they deserve it”.
“Going to Wembley is the best thing you can do in football but who the opponent is at this moment is not the biggest issue”.
Liverpool’s Firmino rattled the outside of the post shortly after the interval, but Stoke continued pile on the pressure with the hosts’ defence looking increasingly erratic as the encounter wore on. “We will watch tomorrow the second semi-final and we will see, but it will be special”.
Should they progress, Liverpool could feature in an all-Merseyside final, with Everton taking a 2-1 lead into their second leg at Manchester City on Wednesday. The team has refined its playing style under Hughes to make it more pleasing on the eye, but this was the Stoke of the Tony Pulis years.
But you need luck in a penalty shootout and we got it.
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Klopp’s previous experience of playing at England’s national stadium was a painful one, his Borussia Dortmund team losing the 2012-13 Champions League final there to Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.
