Liverpool put on a defensive masterclass to win the Carabao Cup final at the expense of Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday.
Even now, Liverpool fans will be wondering how they didn’t concede, with Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Caoimhin Kelleher defending for their lives.
Whilst it was the man with the armband who walked away with the Man of the Match award, and it certainly impressed Jude Bellingham, the man who ran his captain ‘close’ was Caoimhin Kelleher, according to Andy Gray.
The former striker thinks Liverpool’s back-up goalkeeper was ’terrific’ against Chelsea and a key reason why they lifted the League Cup trophy, as he told beIN SPORTS (25/02/24 at 5:45 pm).
The Reds were the better team in the first half, but Mauricio Pochettino will be questioning how his wasteful players didn’t score after the break.
Especially in the dying moments, Chelsea did everything they could to try and force the ball into the back of the net, but somehow, they couldn’t get past the Republic of Ireland star.
That’s why Andy Gray was keen to give Caoimhin Kelleher his flowers after Liverpool added trophy number one to their cabinet for the 2023/24 season.
Caoimhin Kelleher’s performance
“The Liverpool goalkeeper, Kelleher, I bet he is close to Man of the Match,” said Gray.
“The goalkeeper and van Dijk won it, that’s for sure. The goalkeeper kept them in with three or four really important saves. He was in terrific form. When he was needed, he was terrific.
“Van Dijk, with all the young players around, stood up as the captain.”
Will Caoimhin Kelleher leave Liverpool?
If Alisson Becker was fit, Kelleher still would have started the League Cup final because he has been his team’s starting domestic cup keeper.
But at the age of 25, is it high time he leaves and becomes a number one elsewhere? The answer to that should be a big fat ‘yes’.
Sources have told HITC Football that Celtic are keen on bringing Kelleher to Glasgow next season, with their current number one Joe Hart set to retire at the end of the season.
That would be some move for the Irishman, to play for Scotland’s biggest club, win trophies and play in the Champions League.
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