Virgil van Dijk’s header with two minutes left in extra-time sealed Liverpool’s first trophy since Klopp’s bombshell announcement that he will leave at the end of this season.
It was a remarkable success given Klopp was forced to turn to Liverpool’s youth academy graduates after a series of injuries had deprived him of Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Alisson Becker and Joel Matip among others.
While Liverpool’s experienced captain bagged the winner, Van Dijk would not have been able to finish as the hero without the contributions of Klopp’s kids.
Klopp started with 20-year-olds Conor Bradley and Harvey Elliott before introducing Bobby Clark (19), James McConnell (19), Jayden Danns (18) and Jarell Quansah (21) from the bench.
“What happened here is absolutely insane. These things are not possible, what an academy full of character, it’s unbelievable what happened,” Klopp said.
“I’m so proud that I could be part of that, wow. We deserve it, we had lucky moments they had lucky moments and the boys showed up, it was really cool.
“I’m pretty sure when we brought on all the kids people thought ‘OK that’s it now, they give up, they have a game on Wednesday’ but that was really not the case.
“We thought we needed fresh legs and the fresh legs were fresh but very young. They did the job.”
Liverpool had the most teenagers in a League Cup final since Arsenal in 2007.
Klopp said Liverpool’s success with such a depleted and untried line-up was due to the hard work done to prepare his youngsters for their big moment.
“The boys have trained for a long time with us, they know exactly what we have to do. They are a pain, to be honest, that is what you have to be in these moments,” he said.
‘We fight for everything’
Liverpool’s injury problems showed no signs of abating at Wembley when midfielder Ryan Gravenberch was stretchered off in the first half after a challenge from Moises Caicedo that left Klopp fuming.
“It was not even a foul? Then the fourth official explained we cannot give a card…good idea. This situation was obvious for me, everything you need for a card,” he said.
“They did an x-ray on Gravenberch, it is not broken but the ligaments got something. I actually feel really bad, but everything else is really good.”
With Liverpool due to face Southampton in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday before returning to their bid to retain pole position in the Premier League, Klopp has little due to dwell on their Wembley success.
“We don’t have a team right now for Wednesday. The guys who came on can maybe play again, the rest will get treatment on Monday,” he said.
“I love this country to bits, but the schedule is not made for winning a lot. We will see the price we have to pay, but we fight for everything then we see what comes next.
“Somehow against Southampton, there will be a team in Liverpool shirts.”
Klopp celebrated with his traditional fist-pumping antics in front of the jubilant Liverpool supporters, but he said he was still coming to terms with the seventh major trophy of his reign.
“I finally found my family in the stands, they were very happy. The rest, I need to process,” he said.
AFP
