 Wembley Stadium hosted the match | |||||||
| Event | 2023–24 EFL Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Afterextra time | |||||||
| Date | 25 February 2024 (2024-02-25) | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium,London | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 88,868[3] | ||||||
←2023 2025 → | |||||||
The2024 EFL Cup final was the final match of the2023–24 EFL Cup. It was played betweenChelsea andLiverpool, in a repeat of the2022 final, atWembley Stadium in London, England, on 25 February 2024.[4]
Liverpool won the match 1–0 afterextra time to secure a record-extending tenth EFL Cup title.[5][6]
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | AFC Wimbledon (H) | 2–1 |
| 3 | Brighton & Hove Albion (H) | 1–0 |
| 4 | Blackburn Rovers (H) | 2–0 |
| QF | Newcastle United (H) | 1–1 (4–2p.) |
| SF | Middlesbrough (A) | 0–1 |
| Middlesbrough (H) | 6–1 | |
| Key: (H) = Home; (A) = Away | ||
As a Premier League club not involved in anyUEFA competitions, Chelsea entered the cup in the second round where they were drawn at home toEFL League Two clubAFC Wimbledon. The match was played atStamford Bridge on 30 August 2023, where Chelsea won 2–1 thanks to goals fromNoni Madueke andEnzo Fernández, with the latter scoring his first goal for the club.[7] In the third round, they were drawn at home to fellow Premier League clubBrighton & Hove Albion, played at Stamford Bridge on 27 September. The match finished 1–0, with the lone goal coming from strikerNicolas Jackson in the 50th minute.[8] In the fourth round, Chelsea were drawn at home againstEFL Championship clubBlackburn Rovers, with the match played on 1 November. The match saw Chelsea comfortably defeat Blackburn by a score of 2–0, with goals coming from bothBenoît Badiashile andRaheem Sterling.[9]
In the quarter-finals, Chelsea were drawn at home for the fourth consecutive time to Premier League club and2023 finalistsNewcastle United, with the match played at Stamford Bridge on 19 December. A an early Newcastle goal fromCallum Wilson saw them try to maintain the lead, however a defensive mistake fromKieran Trippier led to a stoppage-time equalizer from Chelsea substituteMykhailo Mudryk, sending the match to apenalty shoot-out. Chelsea won 4–2 on penalties with a 100% conversion rate, withCole Palmer,Conor Gallagher,Christopher Nkunku, and Mudryk all scoring for the Blues. Wilson andBruno Guimarães converted their penalties for Newcastle, with Trippier missing the target andMatt Ritchie having his decisive penalty saved byĐorđe Petrović.[10] In the semi-finals, which were played over two legs, Chelsea were drawn against EFL Championship clubMiddlesbrough with the first leg played away atRiverside Stadium on 9 January 2024. Middlesbrough shocked the Blues, beating them 1–0 with a goal fromHayden Hackney.[11] The second leg was played at Stamford Bridge on 23 January, with Chelsea winning 6–1 (6–2 on aggregate) in a must-win match, with an own goal fromJonny Howson, goals from Fernández,Axel Disasi, Madueke, and a brace from Palmer securing the victory for Chelsea, despite Middlesbrough'sMorgan Rogers earning a consolation goal.[12]
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Leicester City (H) | 3–1 |
| 4 | Bournemouth (A) | 2–1 |
| QF | West Ham United (H) | 5–1 |
| SF | Fulham (H) | 2–1 |
| Fulham (A) | 1–1 | |
| Key: (H) = Home; (A) = Away | ||
As a Premier League club involved inUEFA competitions, Liverpool entered in the third round where they were drawn at home toEFL Championship clubLeicester City. The match was played atAnfield on 27 September 2023, where Liverpool won 3–1 thanks to goals fromCody Gakpo,Dominik Szoboszlai andDiogo Jota.[13] In the fourth round, they were drawn away to fellow Premier League clubBournemouth, played atDean Court on 1 November 2023. The match finished with a 2–1 victory for Liverpool, with Cody Gakpo andDarwin Núñez both getting on the scoresheet.[14] In the quarter-finals, Liverpool were drawn at home to Premier League clubWest Ham United, played at Anfield on 20 December 2023. Liverpool produced a dominant display to record a 5–1 victory, with goals coming from Dominik Szoboszlai,Curtis Jones, Cody Gakpo andMohamed Salah. Jones scored twice, his second goal being Liverpool's 500th in theEFL Cup.[15] In the semi-finals, which were played over two legs, Liverpool were drawn against Premier League clubFulham with the first leg played at home at Anfield on 10 January 2024. Despite going behind in the first-half via a goal fromWillian, Liverpool completed a turnaround to win 2–1 after two second-half goals by Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo.[16] The second leg was played atCraven Cottage on 24 January, with the match ending in a 1–1 draw afterIssa Diop cancelled outLuis Díaz's first-half strike. As a result, Liverpool won the tie 3–2 on aggregate to progress to their second EFL Cup final in three seasons.[17]
This was Chelsea's tenth League Cup final and Liverpool's fourteenth – the latter was the most appearances of any club in this competition.[18] This was the sides' third meeting in a League Cup final, having met in2005 and2022, with Chelsea winning the former encounter and Liverpool winning the latter.[19]The final was initially meant to kick off at 16:30GMT, but was instead switched to a 15:00 kick off after the match was designated a "high-risk" fixture by theMetropolitan Police.[20]
Regular starters for LiverpoolMohamed Salah,Darwin Núñez,Dominik Szoboszlai,Joël Matip,Trent Alexander-Arnold,Alisson Becker andDiogo Jota were all ruled out of the final due to injury, as wereCurtis Jones,Thiago Alcântara,Stefan Bajcetic andBen Gannon Doak.[21]
The match kicked off at 15:00 in front of a crowd of 88,868.[3] Chelsea came close to opening the scoring just within the opening 20 minutes, afterCole Palmer had an effort saved at point-blank range byCaoimhín Kelleher, beforeNicolas Jackson's follow up effort was thwarted byWataru Endō. In the 32nd minute, Palmer played athrough-ball to Jackson, who then played the ball across from the right toRaheem Sterling who was left to slot the ball into the net. However, the goal was initially disallowed foroffside by theassistant referee, and then also by thevideo assistant referee after making a check, confirming that Jackson was clearly in an offside position when receiving the through ball. Liverpool came close to scoring in the 40th minute afterAndy Robertson played across towardsCody Gakpo, whoseheader rebounded off the right post.[5]
In the second half, Liverpool thought they had taken the lead in the 60th minute after afree kick into the Chelsea penalty area by Robertson found its way towardsVirgil van Dijk, who headed the ball into the corner of the Chelsea goal. However, the goal was disallowed by the video assistant referee, after adjudging that Endō was blocking Chelsea defenderLevi Colwill while starting in an offside position. Chelsea came close to scoring in the 76th minute after Palmer played the ball across the Liverpool penalty area, whereConor Gallagher attempted to flick the ball into the Liverpool goal, however his effort ended up striking the right post. Intoextra time, Van Dijk headed the ball across to substituteJayden Danns, whose header had to be tipped over the goal byĐorđe Petrović. Late into extra time, Liverpool found a dramatic winning goal after acorner byKostas Tsimikas from the right found its way on to the head of Van Dijk who managed to guide the ball past Petrović and into the left corner of the net. Despite desperate late attempts from Chelsea to find a goal, Liverpool came out victorious with a 1–0 win after extra time to secure their tenth EFL Cup, and their second in three seasons.[6]
          Chelsea |    Liverpool |
|  |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[2] | Match rules[22]
|
| Statistic | Chelsea | Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
| Total shots | 19 | 24 |
| Shots on target | 9 | 11 |
| Ball possession | 46% | 54% |
| Corner kicks | 6 | 5 |
| Offside | 3 | 2 |
| Fouls committed | 14 | 21 |
| Yellow cards | 2 | 5 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
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With this defeat, Chelsea became the first team to lose six successive domestic cup finals. This dismal run began when they lost the2019 EFL Cup final toManchester City. They then lost two FA Cup finals in a row in2020 and2021 (toArsenal andLeicester City, respectively). In 2022, they reached thefinal of the EFL Cup and their third successive FA Cupfinal; they would lose both of them on penalties to Liverpool after both matches ended in goalless draws.[24] FormerManchester United player andSky Sports commentatorGary Neville described the match as "Klopp's kids against the blue billion-pound bottle-jobs", referencing the Liverpool fringe players and Chelsea's overspending on player transfers.[25]
For Liverpool, it was the first time underJürgen Klopp that they had won a domestic cup final without the need of a penalty shoot-out, excluding the2022 FA Community Shield, when they defeatedManchester City 3–1.[26] It turned out to be Klopp's final trophy with the club, having announced a month prior to the final that he would leave at the end of the season.[27]
