Caoimhín Kelleher set a new Liverpool record on Wednesday as he helped the Reds win a penalty shootout against Derby County. The Irishman was in just his 18th game.
Caoimhín Kelleher was again the hero as Liverpool progressed in the EFL Cup. They beat Derby County on penalties after a 0-0 draw at Anfield – and the Reds certainly needed the Irishman.
This one looked destined for penalties quite early on, in truth, as a much-changed Liverpool side struggled for chances. Once it went to the shootout, the hosts found themselves at a disadvantage, too. Not only were they going second but the penalties would be in front of the Derby fans.
On top of that, Derby’s goalkeeper, Joe Wildsmith, was allowed to come off his line for penalties. At least, that’s the impression we got as he kept out Stefan Bajcetic from roughly a yard away. Fortunately, the assistant gave him a talking-to, and the keeper only did it once more after that.
Kelleher, though, was outstanding. He kept out three penalties, the last of which was a truly fantastic save with his ‘wrong’ hand. The 23-year-old was the difference here and in doing so, earned himself a Liverpool record.
Kelleher wins penalty shootout for Liverpool
As Michael Reid of Opta points out, Kelleher has now won four penalty shootouts for Liverpool. That’s more than any other goalkeeper in the club’s history.
Remarkably, this is only Kelleher’s 18th appearance. A good few of those came in the Premier League and Champions League Group Stage, too, where shootouts can’t happen. The keeper clearly has a knack for them.
Of course, it also means that Liverpool have a recent knack for taking games to penalties. Kelleher, though, looks unfazed by it and when the Reds do go all the way to a shootout, they can certainly rely in him.
So how did Jurgen Klopp react to his player setting a record?
“Wow! Let’s just talk about tonight, I can’t remember the others [saves in shootouts], but of course they were good as well,” he said after the match, per Liverpoolfc.com. “Tonight they were three really good penalties, they all go in the corner, so it’s not like it’s a bad one and they mishit the ball or slip a little bit before they shoot. No, they were really good and he saved them anyway, so that’s massive.”
“He has still a lot of goalkeeper years to come so if he could keep that record it would be exceptional and they would be completely insane numbers,” he later added. “So, he did really well.”
Klopp’s impressed, everyone’s impressed – Kelleher is undoubtedly a quality goalkeeper and one Liverpool are lucky to have.
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