Liverpool and City surpass Chelsea and Brighton on penalties

Liverpool and defending champions Manchester City eliminated their visitors, Chelsea and Brighton, on penalties in the quarter-finals of the English League Cup yesterday. Liverpool secured the penalty shootout 6-5 after a 1-1 draw in regular time, while City struggled to seal the victory, winning 4-3 after a 2-2 stalemate. The Reds extended their winning streak to four consecutive matches across all competitions, with their latest victory being a 2-0 league win over Brighton. In their first two seasons at Liverpool, both German manager Jürgen Klopp and Dutch coach Arne Slot reached the League Cup final, and it appears Spanish manager Andoni Iraola is following in their footsteps with the club, which has won the trophy 10 times. Meanwhile, Chelsea’s troubles deepened after a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to rivals Tottenham in the league. This marked the third loss for former Liverpool midfielder and current Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso in his three visits to Anfield as a coach, following previous defeats with German side Bayer Leverkusen in 2024 and Spanish club Real Madrid in 2025. At Anfield, Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola chose to rest his attacking weapons, keeping Frenchman Bradley Barcola, German Florian Wirtz, and Swede Alexander Isak on the bench. The excitement only began in the dying moments of the first half when Chelsea took the lead through Morgan Rogers, who converted a penalty in the 40th minute after Dutch player Ryan Gravenberch fouled Ecuadorian Moisés Caicedo. However, his compatriot Cody Gakpo restored parity, also scoring from the penalty spot just three minutes later. At the Etihad Stadium, the home side entered with a rotated lineup, notably missing Norwegian star Erling Haaland. The match only became attacking in the final quarter of the first half when Ivorian Malik Tillman scored with a shot that deflected off the goalkeeper and into the net in the 30th minute. City responded quickly with a goal from Croatian Mateo Kovačić, who fired into the bottom left corner in the 40th minute following an assist from Phil Foden. Frenchman Georginio Rutter stunned the home side by scoring at the start of the second half (47th minute), but City did not give up and equalized through Brazilian Vitor Reis in the 72nd minute, capitalizing on a free-kick from Frenchman Ryan Sessegnon. The remainder of the second half ended with the score unchanged, before penalties favored Sessegnon’s teammates thanks to two crucial saves by Argentine goalkeeper Jerónimo Rulli, despite Kovačić missing his spot-kick. City will face Brighton again in the ninth round of the league, after the Citizens dropped their perfect league record for the first time with a 2-0 loss to hosts Aston Villa. In other matches, Bournemouth defeated Aston Villa 3-0, Fulham were eliminated at home after a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace, and Sunderland advanced by beating Brentford 3-2.