Chelsea are out of the Carabao Cup, but how should fans be feeling? On Wednesday night, 18 penalties were taken at Anfield, two during the 90 minutes and then 16 more in a rollercoaster shootout. Morgan Rogers opened the scoring, only for a ridiculous Wesley Fofana handball to gift Cody Gakpo an equaliser mere minutes later.

Then came an epic shootout. Both teams had chances to win it, only for Kostas Tsimikas to miss the target, before debutant Emmanuel Emegha was denied by Giorgi Mamardashvili. After Joe Gomez converted, villain of the evening Fofana found row Z of the Kop and Liverpool progressed.

So, how big a deal is this for Chelsea? Well, after the match, Xabi Alonso attempted to play down the importance of the EFL Cup:

"I've seen a team that was competing and showing a good level. This is what it takes to come to these stadiums. This is the least important competition for us and now the Premier League is the main focus. "

Xabi Alonso post-match

“This is the least important competition for us.” 🤔

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso after being eliminated from the Carabao Cup 😳 pic.twitter.com/ep7vo3wTwm

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 28, 2026

The fact that Alonso labelled the EFL Cup the "least important competition" is what has caught the headlines. On the face of it, this is clearly the case. If you ask any Chelsea fan to rank the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup, they would do so in that order. However, there is more to it.

Firstly, fans have pointed out Alonso's hypocrisy. Before the match, speaking to the same Sky Sports reported David Craig, the manager said the following:

"The cups are important for us this year for sure.... we want to be in the next round... from the beginning we have taken the competition seriously. "

Xabi Alonso pre-match

"We are taking it serious" 🏆

Hear from Xabi Alonso ahead of Liverpool vs Chelsea in the Carabao Cup! pic.twitter.com/y4yfpAk59N

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 28, 2026

As evidence of this, Alonso made just four changes from the weekend defeat against Tottenham, one of which was enforced by Cole Palmer's suspension. Levi Colwill, Jorrel Hato and Geovany Quenda were the other players to drop out, replaced by Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Roméo Lavia and Danny Welbeck, so one could argue that Wednesday's lineup was actually stronger than Saturday's.

With Maxence Lacroix, Moisés Caicedo, Morgan Rogers and other key figures all starting on Merseyside, despite the fact they face a refreshed Manchester United at Stamford Bridge in Saturday's early kick off, it is frankly disingenuous of Alonso to suggest he does not believe the EFL Cup to be important.

Similarly, in the previous round, with Leeds 2-0 up in West London, Fofana, Reece James, Palmer, Pedro Neto and Rogers were all introduced of the bench to rescue victory. With Chelsea not in Europe this season, the benefits of a early League Cup exit, that say Arsenal may now enjoy, do not wash.

Each of the last three times the Blues have had a season without European competition, they have reached a domestic cup final, and must now rely on the FA Cup to keep this streak going. Had they won at Anfield, Chelsea would have hosted Bournemouth for a place in the semi-finals of a competition in which Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, Leeds, Nottingham Forest and one of Newcastle or Everton will have already been eliminated from.

Thus, behind Man City, Liverpool are now second-favourites to win the trophy at Wembley in March, a position Chelsea let slip away. Thus, as much as Alonso wishes to downplay it, this defeat is a massive opportunity missed.