Xabi Alonso experienced an unhappy homecoming at Anfield as the former Liverpool man saw his Chelsea side fall to an exhilarating penalty shoot-out defeat on his old stomping ground.

The Basque boss, who grew up alongside Reds head coach Andoni Iraola in the Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea academy near San Sebastian, was back in L4 for just the second time as a manager after his Real Madrid side were outplayed here last year.

And that disappointment happened again with Liverpool edging a helter-skelter match after a penalty shoot-out, with Wesley Fofana sending a horrendous spot-kick high into the Kop.

Joe Gomez scored the most notable penalty for the Reds as Iraola got one over his old mate Alonso and marched into the last eight of the Carabao Cup, with confidence built ahead of a crunch league battle with Arsenal on Sunday.

It was a tense game played on a knife edge after Iraola had shuffled his pack with seven changes to his XI, with Morgan Rogers scoring a 40th-minute penalty that was cancelled out just three minutes later by Cody Gakpo, also from the spot-kick.

Chelsea were terrorised by a man that was not even born when Alonso scored in the 2005 Champions League triumph for Liverpool: Rio Ngumoha.

The energetic speed demon, just 18, left Chelsea chasing shadows for much of the night as he stepped up in the absence of £552million of talent left on the substitutes’ bench, and would have had Stamford Bridge chiefs cursing given he was once of their Cobham academy.

But Ngumoha’s contributions were not enough as his attacking team-mates squandered some clear openings and both goalkeepers put in an inspired shift.

Mike Penders banished the demons of a howler against Tottenham in a London derby defeat on Saturday with a strong performance, making several defining saves, while fellow No 2 Giorgi Mamardashvili also needed to be in tip-top condition.

Despite the fact the Carabao Cup is not top of any team’s priorities, this felt like a significant night given it is probably the most realistic route to silverware in this season, the first of the new era.

Both Alonso and Iraola came here with plenty of praise but also some teething problems in the early weeks of their tenures.

Truthfully, neither team did enough to win and the shoot-out was the fair outcome and the so-called lottery to decide which team would move one step closer to Wembley.

At one point in a rather dull first half an hour, one wondered if the two managers would be best suited just shaking hands on a penalty shoot-out right there and then.

It seemed that was taken literally when two spot-kicks in three minutes breathed some life into the contest – and how refreshing it was to not have to watch 50 replays from every angle possible as the ghouls in Stockley Park analyse every single detail of the decisions.

First, Ryan Gravenberch tripped Moises Caicedo foolishly in the penalty area, when the Ecuadorian midfielder was not going anywhere.

On a night where all previews centred around homecomings – Alonso and Jordan Henderson – it was one that got away that haunted Liverpool. Caicedo, of course, very nearly signed for the Reds in 2023 until Chelsea put more money on the table to buy him.

Rogers stepped up for the Blues and confidently sent Mamardashvili the wrong way.

The away end were in fine voice but they were soon brought crashing back to earth when the referee was pointing to the spot at the other end, as Virgil van Dijk’s attempted header clattered into the arm of Wesley Fofana.

Credit to referee Darren England who, with no VAR in use at this stage of the competition, gave a decision that would have been hard to decipher given the speed of the ball, amount of bodies in the line of sight and also the fact he is used to relying on the back-up of technology.

Gakpo, like Rogers a few minutes earlier, dispatched with ease to equalise.

It was a bizarre atmosphere until then, with former Reds captain Jordan Henderson’s every touch booed by the end of the first half. It started as just a smattering but was soon widespread, helped of course by the midfielder’s moans to the referee.

The flat crowd was probably caused by the fact Andoni Iraola had made seven changes from the team that beat Brighton last Sunday, with a crunch league assignment against Arsenal upcoming this weekend.

There was a staggering £552million of talent left on Iraola’s bench, including Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola. The trio needed a rest but were all sorely missed as Liverpool lacked any attacking bite for much of the game.

But Iraola was able to give those a much-needed rest for much of the night before making a £239m substitution and throwing Wirtz and Barcola on in place of academy duo Lewis Koumas and James McConnell, who both put in battling shifts.

The game flung into life from there, and Joe Gomez enjoyed his best minute of the season. At one end, he played a David Beckham-esque cross to Ronald Araujo, only for the defender to be denied by Penders.

Chelsea’s Belgian goalkeeper set in motion a lightning-quick counter-attack but, somehow, the timeless power of Gomez retreated and made a last-ditch, goal-saving block when Rogers looked certain to score his second of the night.

Then Penders was called into action again as Barcola went on one of his explosive runs and shot hard and low but the goalkeeper got down well.

Penders’s opposite number, Mamardashvili, also enjoyed a night to remember. He got a strong hand on substitute Marco Palestra’s finesse shot on 78 minutes to deny what looked like a certain goal after a sweeping counter-attack.

Liverpool had played four shoot-outs against Chelsea before and won all four, including an FA Cup final and Carabao Cup final in 2022.

And that record extended after Mamardashvili’s heroics and a horrendous penalty from Fofana.