It was a high octane, almost hectic start from both teams, with both goals threatened though not acutely. Individual battles that would prove important, such as Garnacho against Bradley and Acheampong against Isak, started shaping up.
The game settled down after those first ten minutes, with Chelsea edging possession but Liverpool always looking to counter. We didn’t necessarily threaten too much, but that wasn’t a huge problem thanks to Moisés Caicedo’s goal of the season contender in the 14th minute: an absolute rocket of a strike into the top corner. He only scores bangers.
It was a fairly even game, always set to be decided by a few key moments. Acheampong, Badiashile, and Cucurella all made goal-saving blocks and clearances, while at the other end, Garnacho just missed his first-time shot at the end of a corner routine to double our lead in the 38th minute. He then tried to win a penalty by going down after the slightest of pushes when it looked like he could’ve just kept going. Neither referee nor VAR were fooled.
Liverpool came out of the break with renewed effort and intention to level, and Salah could’ve done so within seconds of the restart but thankfully put his effort wide of target.
Chelsea appeared to regain a bit of a foothold, but our structure was undone by injuries to both center backs in fairly quick succession. Liverpool equalized in between Badiashile and Acheampong going down, then threatened to find the winner soon after. It’s what champions do. Our would normally do.
But this time, the narrative flipped. Chelsea were certainly in it the entire time, and as we kept plugging players into the backline to somehow keep it together, we started threatening at the other end as well, especially after Maresca’s bold triple-sub in the 75th minute.
And that gamble paid off in stoppage time, as that boy Estêvão entered Chelsea lore by finishing off Cucurella’s cross in the 95th minute. 2-1!
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