Liverpool booked their place in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup as Andoni Iraola’s side beat Chelsea on penalties at Anfield

Andoni Iraola’s masterstroke saw Liverpool book their spot in the Carabao Cup quarter-final by beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes.

Liverpool reacted brilliantly to going behind late on in the first-half as Cody Gakpo’s penalty cancelled out Morgan Rogers’ spot kick just two minutes apart in the only goals in regulation time, before a crazy shootout saw Giorgi Mamardashvili and Joe Gomez the unlikely heroes from 12 yards.

After Arsenal’s humiliating exit at the hands of League Two Fleetwood Town on penalties last night, Liverpool, and ultimately everyone else left in the cup, were given that extra motivation that they would not have to beat the English champions if they were to win the first major silverware of the season.

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And it told in the teams that both clubs named at Anfield, as Iraola rolled out the likes of Virgil Van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo, but the strength in the squad was clear with three £115 million-plus signings on the bench in Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola.

However, Xabi Alonso used more of the first-team names available to him, with Chelsea naming almost as strong a team available. With no Joao Pedro due to injury and Cole Palmer out with suspension, Jordan Henderson played a more forward role in his return to Anfield.

The opportunity for both managers to continue their crack at winning the first major trophy on offer of the season told in the way the two teams approached the match with the intensity of the opening stages, epitomised by Lewis Koumas’ reckless tackle on Maxence Lacroix that got the striker in the book after just 11 minutes.

But in terms of excitement, bar The Kop serenading Rio Ngumoha with his ‘Rio, Rio’ chant as the former Blues academy player looked the liveliest on the pitch, action was non-existent with just one shot in the entire opening half an hour.

That was until Gravenberch inexplicably took out Moises Caicedo from behind in the box. The Ecuadorian was going nowhere but the Reds midfielder’s brainless tackle gave Darren England no choice but to award the penalty, which was calmly converted by Morgan Rogers, sending Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way.

It was a complete present for Chelsea in a game that had seen no chances at either end up until then. For the neutrals, the game needed a goal to burst into life, and it certainly did as Wesley Fofana gifted the Reds the chance to immediately equalise from the spot after he slapped the ball off the head of Van Dijk from a corner.

Gakpo stepped up and scored his seventh goal in seven Carabao Cup games at Anfield as the game, thankfully, produced the chaos this fixture has produced throughout the years.

The start of the second half saw more goalmouth action than the first as Rogers went close to putting the Blues back in front as he forced Mamardashvili into a strong save.

But most of the pressure was coming from the visitors and forcing Iraola to bring on Wirtz and Barcola for youngsters Koumas and James McConnell shortly before the hour mark.

And the change almost made a near-instant impact as Barcola forced Mike Prenders into a smart save down to his left, just moments after denying Ronald Araujo's free header, which the Uruguayan failed to direct either side of the Chelsea stopper.

Although it was Mamardashvili down the other end who pulled out the stops to keep Liverpool in the game with just over 10 minutes of normal time remaining, as he denied Marco Palestra's fizzing low effort one-on-one.

The end-to-end chances continued as Wirtz fluffed his chance to win the game just minutes later. Levi Colwill blocked the German's shot from point-blank range, but the strike looked to be going wide anyway when it looked easier to hit the target.

With penalties looming, Iraola brought on Alexis Mac Allister and Isak in the last 10 minutes to bolster their spot-taking options. However, the big striker didn't get a sniff in the final minutes of the game but emphatically scored his penalty in the shootout.

Iraola's call to bring on his most reliable penalty takers worked as the Reds booked their spot in the final eight, alongside Manchester City, who beat Brighton on penalties in a half-empty Etihad Stadium.