Klopp shows the value of giving youth its chance

Liverpool kids prevail against club which is preparing to sell off starlets for profit

- Dan Kilpatrick

JURGEN KLOPP described this as "easily the most special trophy" he had ever won, while Mauricio Pochettino was left wondering out loud if he was running out of time to win silverware of his own.

The Carabao Cup is typically the fourth most prestigious trophy on offer to Liverpool and Chelsea, but the contrast between the two managers after yesterday's final was striking, and spoke to the significance of the occasion.

Klopp's Chesire cat grin has rarely been wider, but Pochettino looked close to the edge.

For Klopp, the circumstances of Liverpool's 1-0 win, sealed by captain Virgil van Dijk's 118th-minute header deep into extra-time, made this an incomparable and unique triumph.

"What we see here today is so exceptional, we might never see [the like] again," he said. "These things don't happen in football."

Already missing Trent-Alexander Arnold, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez to injury, Klopp introduced Jayden Danns, 18, James McConnell, Bobby Clark, both. 19, and Jarell Quansah, 21, in the second half to join 20-year-old starter Harvey Elliott on the pitch. Conor Bradley, 20, also started.

If the Liverpool manager had used the XI which finished the match - also including Kostas Tsimikas and reserve goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who was outstanding in the early rounds of this competition, he would have been lambasted for not taking the Carabao Cup seriously.

And, yet, his side deservedly prevailed, the irrepressible Van Dijk refusing to be denied, despite his first goal, also a commanding header from a set-piece, being controversially chalked off after Wataru Endo blocked a Chelsea player in an offside position.