BEVERLY HILLS, October 1, (THEWILL) – Arsenal booked their quarterfinal berth of the Caraboa Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over Liverpool at Anfield after the game ended with a stalemate at full time.
Bernd Leno, in goal for the North London side, saved two penalties as Arsenal progressed to the quarterfinals.
Both sides changed their selection of players for this tie from the teams that marched out in Arsenal’s 3-1 league defeat at the same venue only three days ago.
The result too turned out different in what was a far quieter contest than it was on in that game.
Takumi Minamino, Liverpool’s Japanese striker wasted the best opportunity of the game in the first half as his strike hit the post and there was no change to the score line after the interval.
THEWILL recalls that Arsenal beat Liverpool on penalties in August’s Community Shield as well and they held their nerves to do it once again today, with Leno saving efforts from Divock Origi and Harry Wilson after Mohammed Elneny had been denied by the Argentinian goalkeeper Adrian for the hosts.
Arsenal’s English player Joe Willock then squeezed the winning spot-kick under Adrian to make it three victories out of four for Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta over his Liverpool counterpart, Jurgen Klopp since the latter’s appointment at Emirates Stadium late last year.
Reacting to his deserved Man of the Match award at the post-match interview, the German international keeper Bernd Leno, whose series of noteworthy saves and strong penalty performance gave Arsenal the victory said, “It was a very tough game. We did a few changes but you could see our philosophy, our intention to win this game. Of course, it’s only the Carabao Cup but we wanted to go through to the quarterfinal because it’s a chance to win another trophy. That was our target. Luckily we won the penalty shoot-out.”
On his saves, he noted, “It’s very good for a goalkeeper to save some penalties and see laughing faces after the game. I prefer next time to win this game without a penalty shoot-out but if it finishes like that all the better. I am the number one. My job is to prove it every week. I think I’ve done it today again.”
ALSO READ: I Am Eager To Play For Nigeria, Akpoguma Tells Club
In his post-match interview, Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp said, “If there would have been a winner inside the 90 minutes, it probably should have been us. But we’re not in dreamland, you have to score and we didn’t do that … we mixed up the team but it was a proper performance with a lot of the things we want to see when you wear this shirt. There were some really good individual performances.”
About the Author
