Carabao Cup final: Predicting Chelsea vs. Liverpool

Liverpool vs. Chelsea: Who weeps and who Celebrates?

Wembley awaits for the Carabao Cup final, and if there is anything the media hasn’t hyped about enough ahead of the Liverpool versus Chelsea affair, it is that there are no favorites when these two sides meet in a final.

Chelsea and Liverpool have both found ways to meet themselves in finals of Cup competitions, with neither side having the edge until the last kick of the tie, with either side coming up top by a goal difference or crowned victors by the luck of a penalty shoot out.

Of course, saying there are no favorites or that neither side has ever managed to dominate the other in a final by no means makes the viewing experience any boring, as the Blues and the Reds in the 2021/22 season played out 2 finals that dazzled the English fans and by a stretch, was a better viewing experience for neutrals than the Champions League finals in subsequent times.

Well, that was the Thomas Tuchel era where Chelsea built itself as a formidable team across every competition they ventured into. However, recent times, pale in comparison to the Tuchel/Abramovich days as the Blues currently dangle in mid-table in contrast to their opponents, Liverpool.

But this is where the West-London side excels in; when the chips are down, they find ways to surprise everyone, no matter who the man in the dug out is. Roberto Di Matteo came out from the shadows to win Chelsea their first ever Champions League trophy in the 2011/2012 final against a formidable Bayern Munich side when all chips were down.

And very reminiscent of that season, manager, Mauricio Pochettino has spent half the season under the shadows with his Chelsea side, crawling their way into a domestic cup final to redeem Thomas Tuchel’s failures in same competition. You can’t write a better motivational story than that.

However, the Reds have a different angle to the tale — this is Jurgen Klopp’s final season with Liverpool, one that somewhat mirrors his first season on Merseyside where the German led his team at the time into 2 major finals; the Carabao Cup and the Europa League, only to lose both.

Would the end mirror the beginning? Or will Jurgen Klopp get his redemption to give Liverpool fans the deserved ending to Klopp’s story in Merseyside?

Whatever the outcome results at full time, it will buttress the fact that a Chelsea versus Liverpool final is one that has no favorites or underdog. Who would come out the victor, is who sticks the most goal at the back of the end to redeem their team.