2024 EFL Cup Final

2024 EFL Cup Final

Chelsea Liverpool 0 1
Report
Event	2023–24 EFL Cup
Date	25 February 2024
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Player of the Match	Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Referee	Chris Kavanagh
Attendance	88,868
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The 2024 EFL Cup final was the final match of the 2023–24 EFL Cup. It was played between Chelsea and Liverpool, in a repeat of the 2022 final, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 25 February 2024.

Liverpool won the match 1–0 after extra time to secure a record tenth EFL Cup title.

Route to the final

Main article: 2023–24 EFL Cup

Chelsea

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 (4–2 p.)
SF	Middlesbrough (A)	0–1
	Middlesbrough (H)	6–1
Key: (H) = Home; (A) = Away

As a Premier League club not involved in any UEFA competitions, Chelsea entered the cup in the second round where they were drawn at home to EFL League Two club AFC Wimbledon. The match was played at Stamford Bridge on 30 August 2023, where Chelsea won 2–1 thanks to goals from Noni Madueke and Enzo Fernández, with the latter scoring his first goal for the club. In the third round, they were drawn at home to fellow Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion, played at Stamford Bridge on 27 September. The match finished 1–0, with the lone goal coming from striker Nicolas Jackson in the 50th minute. In the fourth round, Chelsea were drawn at home against EFL Championship club Blackburn 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 both Benoît Badiashile and Raheem Sterling.

In the quarter-finals, Chelsea were drawn at home for the fourth consecutive time to Premier League club and 2023 finalists Newcastle United, with the match played at Stamford Bridge on 19 December. A an early Newcastle goal from Callum Wilson saw them try to maintain the lead, however a defensive mistake from Kieran Trippier led to a stoppage-time equalizer from Chelsea substitute Mykhailo Mudryk, sending the match to a penalty shoot-out. Chelsea won 4–2 on penalties with a 100% conversion rate, with Cole Palmer, Conor Gallagher, Christopher Nkunku, and Mudryk all scoring for the Blues. Wilson and Bruno Guimarães converted their penalties for Newcastle, with Trippier missing the target and Matt Ritchie having his decisive penalty saved by Đorđe Petrović. In the semi-finals, which were played over two legs, Chelsea were drawn against EFL Championship club Middlesbrough with the first-leg played away at Riverside Stadium on 9 January 2024. Middlesbrough shocked the Blues, beating them 1–0 with a goal from Hayden Hackney. The second-leg was played at Stamford Bridge on January 23, with Chelsea winning 6–1 (6–2 on aggregate) in a must-win match, with an own goal from Jonny Howson, goals from Fernández, Axel Disasi, Madueke, and a brace from Palmer securing the victory for Chelsea, despite Middlesbrough's Morgan Rogers earning a consolation goal.

Liverpool

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 in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League, Liverpool entered in the third round where they were drawn at home to EFL Championship club Leicester City. The match was played at Anfield on 27 September 2023, where Liverpool won 3–1 thanks to goals from Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Diogo Jota. In the fourth round, they were drawn away to fellow Premier League club Bournemouth, played at Dean Court on 1 November 2023. The match finished with a 2–1 victory for Liverpool, with Cody Gakpo and Darwin Núñez both getting on the scoresheet. In the quarter-finals, Liverpool were drawn at home to Premier League club West 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 and Mohamed Salah. Jones scored twice, his second goal being Liverpool's 500th in the EFL Cup. In the semi-finals, which were played over two legs, Liverpool were drawn against Premier League club Fulham with the first-leg played at home at Anfield on 10 January 2024. Despite going behind in the first-half via a goal from Willian, Liverpool completed a turnaround to win 2–1 after two second-half goals by Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo. The second-leg was played at Craven Cottage on January 24, with the match ending in a 1–1 draw after Issa Diop cancelled out Luis 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.

Pre-match

This was Chelsea's tenth League Cup final and Liverpool's fourteenth – the latter was the most appearances of any club in this competition.

This was the sides' third meeting in a League Cup final, having met in 2005 and 2022, with Chelsea winning the former encounter and Liverpool winning the latter. The final was initially meant to kick off at 16:30 GMT, but was instead switched to a 15:00 kick off after the match was designated a "high-risk" fixture by the Metropolitan Police.

Match

Team selection

Regular starters for Liverpool Mohamed Salah, Darwin Núñez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Joël Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones were all ruled out of the final due to injury, as were Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajcetic.

Summary

The match kicked off at 15:00 in front of a crowd of 88,868. Chelsea came close to opening the scoring just within the opening 20 minutes, after Cole Palmer had an effort saved at point-blank range by Caoimhín Kelleher, before Nicolas Jackson's follow up effort was thwarted by Wataru Endō. In the 32nd minute, Palmer played a through-ball to Jackson, who then played the ball across to Raheem Sterling who was left to slot the ball into the net. However, the goal was initially disallowed for offside by the assistant referee, and then also by the video assistant referee after making a check, deciding that Jackson was in an offside position when receiving the through ball. Liverpool came close to scoring in the 40th minute after Andrew Robertson played a cross towards Cody Gakpo, whose header rebounded off the post.

In the second half, Liverpool thought they had taken the lead in the 60th minute after a free kick into the Chelsea penalty area by Robertson found its way towards Virgil 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 defender Levi 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, where Conor Gallagher attempted to flick the ball into the Liverpool goal, however his effort ended up striking the post. Into extra time, Van Dijk headed the ball across to substitute Jayden Danns, whose header had to be tipped over the goal by Đorđe Petrović. Late into extra time, Liverpool found a dramatic winning goal after a corner by Kostas Tsimikas founds its way on to the head of Van Dijk who managed to guide the ball past Petrović and into the back 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.

Details

25 February 2024 (2024-02-25) 15:00 GMT	Chelsea	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Liverpool	Wembley Stadium Attendance: 88,868 Referee: Chris Kavanagh
		Report	van Dijk  118'

Chelsea

Liverpool

GK 28 Đorđe Petrović RB 27 Malo Gusto CB 2 Axel Disasi CB 26 Levi Colwill LB 21 Ben Chilwell (c) 45+3' 113' DM 25 Moisés Caicedo DM 8 Enzo Fernández RW 20 Cole Palmer 120+2' AM 23 Conor Gallagher 97' LW 7 Raheem Sterling 67' ST 15 Nicolas Jackson 90' Substitutes: GK 1 Robert Sánchez GK 13 Marcus Bettinelli DF 14 Trevoh Chalobah 113' DF 42 Alfie Gilchrist MF 56 Billy Gee FW 10 Mykhailo Mudryk 90' FW 11 Noni Madueke 97' FW 18 Christopher Nkunku 67' FW 49 Jimi Tauriainen Manager: Mauricio Pochettino

GK 62 Caoimhin Kelleher RB 84 Conor Bradley 45+3' 72' CB 5 Ibrahima Konaté 82' 106' CB 4 Virgil van Dijk (c) LB 26 Andrew Robertson 87' CM 10 Alexis Mac Allister 81' 87' CM 3 Wataru Endō CM 38 Ryan Gravenberch 28' RW 19 Harvey Elliott ST 18 Cody Gakpo 87' LW 7 Luis Díaz Substitutes: GK 13 Adrián DF 2 Joe Gomez 28' 120+3' DF 21 Kostas Tsimikas 87' DF 78 Jarell Quansah 106' MF 42 Bobby Clark 72' MF 53 James McConnell 87' 107' MF 67 Lewis Koumas MF 98 Trey Nyoni FW 76 Jayden Danns 87' Manager: Jürgen Klopp

Man of the Match: Virgil van Dijk Assistant referees: Mark Scholes James Mainwaring Fourth official: Tim Robinson Reserve assistant referee: Wade Smith Video assistant referee: John Brooks Assistant video assistant referee: Marc Perry

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Nine named substitutes Maximum of five substitutions, with a sixth allowed in extra time

Statistics

Overall

Statistic	Chelsea	Liverpool
Total shots	19	24
Shots on target	9	11
Ball possession	46%	54%
Corner kicks	6	5
Offisde	3	2
Fouls committed	14	21
Yellow cards	2	5
Red cards	0	0

External links

• Official website

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