Van Dijk’s last minute header helps Liverpool pull off a thrilling win over Chelsea to lift the League Cup!
Liverpool defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the League Cup final on Sunday, with Virgil van Dijk scoring a header in extra time to seal a record-tying tenth trophy in the competition and cap off Juergen Klopp’s final season as manager.
When Van Dijk headed a corner back towards goal to the far corner in the 118th minute, he climbed well above his defender and set off shouts of joy among the Liverpool fans gathered at that end of Wembley Stadium.
With the team dominating the Premier League and still competing in the FA Cup and Europa League, supporters of Liverpool will be hoping that this recent victory serves as a springboard for additional titles during Klopp’s last season, with the quadruple still attainable.
It was an exciting match in which both teams had what appeared to be the opening goals disallowed for offside. Raheem Sterling for Chelsea was stopped by the linesman’s flag prior to halftime, while Dutchman Van Dijk’s header following the break was controversially disallowed by the VAR.
In a fierce end-to-end duel, both teams missed multiple opportunities and hit the woodwork with increasing frequency.
Following the addition of important attackers Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez, midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, goalkeeper Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, and Curtis Jones to the extensive list of injured players, Liverpool survived an awful injury list.
With five minutes of additional time left, Harvey Elliott forced a spectacular save out of Djordje Petrovic. The Liverpool attacker headed strongly towards the bottom corner, but the keeper cleared the ball off the line. However, it made no difference because a few minutes later, Van Dijk headed the ball home, ecstatically cheered on by the Liverpool fans.