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Kelleher penalty heroics help...

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Kelleher penalty heroics help Liverpool past Arsenal after Anfield epic

Raf Diallo
Raf Diallo

09:46 30 Oct 2019


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Liverpool and Arsenal treated Anfield to a Carabao Cup thriller. But in the end, it was Ireland Under-21 goalkeeper Caoimhin Keller who proved to be the Liverpool hero in the penalty shootout.

The Cork native saved Dani Ceballos' effort as the home side won 5-4 in the shoot-out.

Kelleher had started in goal for the second successive Carabao Cup game for Liverpool. And on the opposite side, the oft-frozen out (by Unai Emery at least!) Mesut Ozil was thawed out and put him back into the fray for Arsenal.

 

"Not-So-Normal" Normal Time

The two sides shared 10 goals in a not-so-normal normal time encounter. And many of the goals were of outstanding quality - not that the defending could be described as such!

Liverpool took the lead on six minutes after a Shkodran Mustafi own goal. But Arsenal struck three times in the next thirty minutes to turn game around.

First Lucas Torreira finished from close range after Kelleher had parried Ainsley Maitland-Niles' effort back into his path.

Gabriel Martinelli then extended his cup-competition goal streak with goals on 26 and 36 minutes.

However, Harvey Elliott won a penalty for Liverpool which James Milner converted two minutes before the break.


Arsenal then pushed further ahead when Maitland-Niles finished off a fine flick-back from Ozil. Liverpool kept in close touch however as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fired in against his former club.

Divock Origi then levelled, before Joe Willock curled in a long-range pearler beyond Kelleher to restore Arsenal's lead.

However, Origi's acrobatic finish on 94 minutes saw Liverpool make it 5-5 and force penalties.

Most of the penalties were astutely struck. But Kelleher made the vital save to stop Ceballos' effort, before Curtis Jones' converted the winning Liverpool penalty to send the Reds into the fifth round.

And Elsewhere...

Manchester United beat Chelsea 2-1 in their own fourth-round tie at Stamford Bridge.

Marcus Rashford scored twice for the visitors - once from the spot and another from a free-kick.

Michy Batshuayi netted Chelsea's goal in between those Rashford goals.

Aston Villa won the other match tonight as the Birmingham side edged Wolves 2-1 at home.

Anwar El Ghazi and Ahmed Elmohamady got the crucial goals for Villa, while Patrick Curtone scored for the away side.


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Arsenal Caoimhin Kelleher Carabao Cup Football Liverpool Mesut Ozil Off The Ball Soccer Sport

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