KEIR RADNEDGE AT WEMBLEY —- Liverpool still have the unprecedented quadruple in sight after beating Chelsea 6-5 in a penalty shootout after the 150th Anniversary FA Cup Final at Wembley ended goalless following extra time.

Greek substitute Kostas Tsimikas clipped home the decisive spotkick in sudden death after keeper Alisson had saved magnificently from Mason Mount. Liverpool thus repeated the manner of their victory over Chelsea in the League Cup final, the first of the four trophies they have been pursuing all term.

Liverpool, who had edged Chelsea on 11-10 penalties in February, still have the Champions League Final against Real Madrid ahead of them while they sit three points behind leaders Manchester City in the Premier League with two matches to play.

City go to West Ham on Sunday and wrap up next Sunday at home to Aston Villa. Liverpool must pull themselves back together at Southampton on Tuesday and conclude at Anfield against Wolves.

Liverpool’s success was belated revenge for defeat by the Blues in their last final a decade ago. Chelsea, eight-time winners like Liverpool now, were final losers for a historic third successive season after finishing runners-up to Arsenal in 2020 under Frank Lampard and Leicester in 2021 under Thomas Tuchel.

Jurgen Klopp, and not Tuchel, thus became the first German manager to lead his team to FA Cup glory.

Liverpool swarmed all over Chelsea from the kickoff. A sloppy clearance from Edouard Mendy in the third minute betrayed Chelsea nerves before Luis Diaz repeatedly sliced through their defence on the Liverpool left wing.

The Colombian was carrying on where he left off against Manchester City in the semi-final. Once he crossed dangerously but without a team-mate to pop the ball home then he went in on his own and, after Mendy half-saved, saw Trevoh Chalobah chop the ball off the line.

Change of balance

Diaz then played the decoy, drawing Chelsea defenders to create a gap to give Andrew Robertson a sight of goal. Chelsea escaped again as the fullback’s shot flew high and wide.

Finally Chelsea found their feet. Reece James began to tighten up on Diaz and launched into attack himself. He sent Mason Mount clear on the right for a short cross which Christian Pulisic steered inches wide of Alisson’s right-hand post. Then Marcos Alonso was foiled by the diving keeper.

Liverpool’s momentum was disrupted further on the halfhour when Mo Salah fell to the turf with a groin problem and had to be replaced. Substitute Diogo Jota might even have put Liverpool ahead just before halftime but was over the bar after a lightning counter-attack.

Chelsea began the second half as Liverpool had begun the first and were unlucky not to break the deadlock.

More chances

The ever-threatening Marcos Alonso was narrowly wide, Christian Pulisic had a shot saved at point-blank range by Alisson then Alonso struck the bar with an acute-angled free kick from the Chelsea right.

Action began to flow, a little scrappily, from one end to the other but with Liverpool again now in the ascendancy. Luis Diaz shot both over the goal, wide of the goal and against the outside of one post while Robertson was denied by the other.

A further halfhour was the last thing Liverpool needed in their maximum-effort campaign and the wear and tear of the season saw Virgil van Dijk substituted ahead of extra-time.

Plenty of will from tired legs brought no further openings and thus a repeated resort to penalties.

The teams:

Chelsea: Mendy – Chalobah (Azpilicueta 105), Thiago Silva, Rudiger – James, Jorginho, Marcos Alonso – Pulisic (Lotus-Cheek 105; Barkley 118), Kovacic (Kante 65), Mount – Lukaku (Ziyech 85).

Liverpool: Alisson – Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk (Matip 90), Robertson (Tsimikas 110) – Keita (Milner 72), Henderson, Thiago Alcantara – Salah (Diogo Jota 32), Mane, Luis Diaz (Firmino 98).

Referee: C Pawson. Attendance: 84,897.

Penalties (Chelsea first): Marcos Alonso 1-0, Milner 1-1; Azpilicueta hits post 1-1, Thiago Alcantara 1-2; James 2-2, Firmino 2-3; Barkley 3-3, Alexander-Arnold 3-4; Jorginho 4-4, Mane saved 4-4; Ziyech 5-4, Diogo Jota 5-5; Mount saved 5-5, Tsimikas 5-6.

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