Winners of the League Cup, already against the Blues and already on penalties, the Reds will play the Champions League final on May 28 at the Stade de France against Real Madrid.

The task will be a little more complicated to hope to win the English championship, Liverpool being three points behind Manchester City two days from the end.

For Chelsea, it is the second defeat in the final this season and especially the third defeat in the final of the cup in a row, after it against Arsenal and Leicester previously.

The Blues however won the FIFA Club World Cup this winter and will therefore not end without a trophy this very turbulent season behind the scenes, with the sale of the club to American billionaire Todd Boehly, which should be formalized soon.

Between two teams that had never managed to decide, with two draws (1-1 and 2-2) in the league, it was a safe bet that the match would be tight.

But tight does not mean closed or boring, there are many opportunities on both sides.

Luis Diaz ubiquitous but cursed

The main dangers were Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota for the Reds and Christian Pulisic and Marcos Alonso for the Blues who played in yellow, perhaps out of superstition, having lost their last finals at Wembley in blue.

Liverpool's Colombian striker Luis Diaz hurt Chelsea's defence, including Trevoh Chalobah, at Wembley on March 14, 2022 Ben Stansall AFP

The Colombian was the first in action, starting behind the opposing defense on a superb diagonal from the outside of the foot of Trent Alexander-Arnold, but his shot was blocked by Edouard Mendy and cleared shortly before the line by Trevor Chalobah (8th).

Diaz still lacked a bit of precision on a low shot that was too crossed (52nd) and two wrapped shots that missed the frame by nothing (69th, 90th).

Definitely cursed, Diaz even saw the post push back his shot 7 minutes from the end, imitated a few seconds later by Andy Robertson.

Diogo Jota, returned shortly after half an hour to replace Mohamed Salah, hit in the adductors or thigh - very bad news two weeks before the Champions League final against Real Madrid -, was no more successful.

his whip from the outside of the right, cutting off a cross from Andy Robertson at the near post, went well above (45th), before a shot, when he had been well shifted to the right, did not turns out to be too crossed (60th).

Mané not the hero, this time

For his part, after 20 very delicate first minutes where he could not bring the ball out properly, Chelsea also had very clear opportunities.

Pulisic, on a center set back from Mason Mount, crossed his recovery too much (23rd) and he found Alisson on his way, after a good delivery from Lukaku (46th), while the Belgian had sent a nice opening from the stands. the American (45+1).

The very offensive Marcos Alonso could also have been the hero of the match without a good exit from Alisson in his feet (28th) or the intervention of the crossbar on a free kick from a tight angle that he had shot directly (48th ).

Liverpool star striker Sadio Mané misses a shot on goal against Chelsea at Wembley on May 14, 2022 Glyn KIRK AFP

At the start of extra time, the Reds also had to do without the services of Virgil van Dijk, who gave way to Joel Matip.

Despite 5 changes made on both sides, the two teams showed understandable signs of fatigue for a 60th game in their season, and the penalty shootout once again had to play justice of the peace.

Sadio Mané had victory at the end of his foot, after the failure of Cesar Azpilicueta on Chelsea's second attempt, but unlike the CAN final or the play-off for the 2022 World Cup, this time he found his compatriot Mendy on his path.

Mason Mount missed the Blues' 7th attempt and Kostas Tsimikas did not shake to keep the Reds' crazy dream alive.

© 2022 AFP