Chelsea set English football record with defeat by Liverpool

Chelsea set an unwanted record in their Carabao Cup final defeat by Liverpool as they became the first English side ever to lose six successive domestic cup finals.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men conceded a late winning goal at Wembley, as Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk headed home from a corner in the 118th minute.

Both teams had goals disallowed in the regulation 90 minutes, with Raheem Sterling and Van Dijk finding the net only to be denied by the officials – the latter in controversial circumstances.

Chelsea clearly tired in extra time and Liverpool netted a deserved winner through their skipper.

Defeat puts Blues in history books for the wrong reasons

Van Dijk’s goal condemned the Blues to a sixth defeat in a row in domestic cup finals, a run that began with the 2019 League Cup final against Manchester City when Raheem Sterling, a starter for Chelsea against Liverpool, scored the decisive penalty for the Manchester club in the shoot-out.

Chelsea lost FA Cup finals in three successive seasons between 2020 and 2022, to Arsenal, Leicester and Liverpool, and also lost the League Cup final to Liverpool in 2022.

The Stamford Bridge club’s last victory in a domestic final came in 2018 when they beat Manchester United to lift the FA Cup.

Speaking after Sunday’s defeat by Liverpool, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino urged his players to take the positives out of the game.

“We need to take positive things, need to push, use this type of game to learn and be better,” Pochettino said. “I think we really competed if you don’t score with chances we had it’s difficult to win the final.

“That is why, we lost final we need to be clinical in front of goal and we congratulate Liverpool and keep going.

“The way you lose is so painful but now we need to keep going keep moving. They scored and we didn’t score.”