Liverpool won the FA Cup on Saturday evening after beating Chelsea on penalties to clinch the much-admired English trophy. The Reds played a 4-3-3 pattern, with the usual front-three of Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane, and Mo Salah leading the attack. However, Chelsea were the ones creating more chances than their rivals, with Marcos Alonso having a 1v1 chance that was saved by Allison.
Kostas Tsimikas’ penalty won the cup for the Merseyside club and this proved to be their revenge against Chelsea from 2012 when Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley to win the title that season. Liverpool played without midfielder Fabinho as it is believed that Jurgen Klopp intends to have him fit for the remainder of the Premier League season and also the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
There were slight hiccups to their squad fitness generally as Mo Salah had to be substituted early in the first half of the Cup final when it seemed e pulled his groin. It seemed like a light problem but Klopp did not want to risk it and thus took the precaution of taking off Salah and brought on Diogo Jota to replace him.
Dutch international Virgil Van Dijk also was replaced by Cameroon international Joel Matip and it was also another injury scare that prompted the substitution. Liverpool are chasing the quadruple, a chance to win all four competitions this season and with the League Cup and the FA Cup won already, they are now channeling their energy to win the Premier League title and the UEFA Champions League title as well.
It is not yet known how badly injured Salah and Van Dijk are, but internal club sources claim they are light injuries and the substitutions by Jurgen Klopp were precautionary in order not to escalate them. Liverpool have two more games to play to end the season and they are currently four points behind Manchester City who played a two-all draw at West Ham yesterday afternoon.
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