Ian Wright has claimed that Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk’s Carabao Cup final penalty could have ‘finished’ Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Van Dijk memorably taunted Kepa from the penalty spot in February’s showpiece at Wembley. The Chelsea goalkeeper stood in the right-hand corner of the goal, with a vast area to aim at to his left.
Instead of taking the bait, the Liverpool man thundered his penalty towards the corner Kepa was guarding. There was no stopping it, and Van Dijk glared back at the ‘keeper to let him know what he thought of his tactics.
Then Chelsea’s second choice goalie, Kepa has had a renaissance at Stamford Bridge this season. And speaking to his Wrighty’s House podcast this week, Wright applauded the Spaniard’s resilience to come back from that shootout.
“Can I say something about Kepa? What happened with him at that Wembley final with Van Dijk is the ultimate… it could have finished him. That finishes people. It probably finishes you as a goalkeeper,” said the pundit. “He fell so low that people had actually forgot about him. Mendy got injured and has lost form, Kepa’s come in and everyone has remembered him again.”
Remembering one of the great Liverpool shootouts
Even in a history littered with as many memorable penalty shootouts as Liverpool’s is, February’s Carabao Cup drama is right up there as one of the best.
Not only did Kepa get royally done by Van Dijk, but Fabinho also dinked a delightful Panenka past him, too.
To make matters worse for the £71m man, he then blasted the decisive penalty over the bar, as Caoimhin Kelleher became Liverpool’s hero.
At that point, there had looked like there was no way back for Kepa. The man signed to combat Liverpool’s capture of Alisson Becker in 2018 looked like being a million miles away from the Reds No.1.
But football has a funny way of bringing players back from the brink. We all love a redemption story, and this game is absolutely full of them.
Since Graham Potter’s arrival at Chelsea, Kepa has played in all nine games under the new manager. In that time, he’s kept five clean sheets.
Not that this has anything to do with Liverpool, of course. But it will be interesting to see if the 28-year-old is still in command of the shirt by the time the Blues face the Reds in January.
Still less than a year on from his Carabao Cup nadir, Kepa’s inclusion could prove a handy phycological edge to Liverpool going into that game.
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