A completely bonkers game, but even in chaos Liverpool do not lose at Anfield.

The Reds somehow scraped a remarkable 5-5 draw with Arsenal in the League Cup on Wednesday night, with Divock Origi again scoring a vital goal, this time in the ninety-fourth minute, to send the tie into penalties.

There, after Dani Ceballos’ penalty was saved by Liverpool’s 20-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher, local lad Curtis Jones stepped up to score the winning penalty and send the reserve Liverpool team through to the quarter-finals of the cup competition.

Battle of the reserves

A quick look at the line-ups of both teams and those on their respective benches told everything about the desires of Liverpool and Arsenal for this competition.

Liverpool’s defence was full of inexperience and utility, with Kelleher, Neco Williams and Sepp van den Berg making their Anfield debuts alongside Joe Gomez and James Milner at left-back.

The current reserve midfield three of Naby Keïta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana featured, with Origi, Rhian Brewster and Harvey Elliott, the youngest Liverpool player ever to play at Anfield at 16, in attack.

Meanwhile, the bench was full of youngsters who would have been mostly unknown to the general Liverpool fanbase, Jones being the exception.

Arsenal also changed their team heavily, but nevertheless retaining a strong line-up and arguably an even stronger bench. Héctor Bellerín, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding and Sead Kolašinac all started in defence, with Lucas Torreira in midfield and Mesut Özil making his return to the Arsenal side.

There were plenty of youngsters in Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli but they have all already received plenty of game time in the Europa League and, Martinelli aside, the Premier League as well.

Moreover, the likes of Nicolas Pépé, Alexandre Lacazette and Mattéo Guendouzi were on Arsenal’s bench, highlighting Unai Emery’s passion to progress and win his first trophy with the club.

First half struggle for the Reds

For the first half, Arsenal’s extra quality and experience appeared to be making the difference. Mustafi’s latest error notwithstanding, Arsenal dominated the majority of the first forty-five minutes and deserved their lead.

The Gunners overturned Liverpool’s early goal with one from Torreira and two from Martinelli before a late Milner penalty brought the Reds back into the game.

Despite promising signs going forward, admittedly against a poor Arsenal defence, Liverpool committed far too many unforced errors, contributing to all three Arsenal goals in the first half.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, Brewster and particularly Elliott, van den Berg and Kelleher made mistakes, which is to be expected given the age and experience of the majority of these players.

Second half sparkle from both sides

The second half initially continued in the same vein, with even James Milner joining in with a terrible back-pass to Kelleher which Maitland-Niles, thanks to a wonderful piece of skill from Özil, converted to restore Arsenal’s two-goal lead.

At this point, Liverpool’s omnipotent Anfield defiance took hold, aided by the roar of the crowd, as the Reds dragged themselves level with stunning strikes from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Origi.

Yet an equally sumptuous long-range finish from Willock took Arsenal to the brink of victory.

However, the Gunners forgot Origi, who embodies Liverpool’s never-say-die attitude, was still on the pitch, and his late finish brought a penalty shootout from which Liverpool did not look back.

For Arsenal, despite their brilliance going forward, they were left disappointed as one venue to silverware disappeared at Anfield.

League Cup experimentation paying off for Klopp

Jürgen Klopp may not be seriously interested in the League Cup, and the schedule of the competition is causing serious problems for Liverpool’s fixture schedule.

However, Liverpool’s manager admitted he had rarely enjoyed a game more than Wednesday night, as the youth and fringe players in Liverpool shirts matched the attitude and style set by the first team on a weekly basis.

Their courage meant they continued the success of the first-team as well, as Liverpool just keep on winning, no matter the situation.

Klopp has already won the Champions League with Liverpool amongst many great games and achievements, and will likely win more trophies in the future, but his greatest legacy is the culture he has restored to Liverpool and replicated through all levels of the club.

Liverpool’s style of play can be seen throughout multiple levels below the first-team, and the same attitudes are present as well.

Klopp’s ‘Doubters to Believers’ line when he arrived at Liverpool could not be truer than in this moment, both on and off the pitch for all associated with Liverpool. Their collective attitude will stand them in great stead this season, as the youngsters proved on Wednesday night.

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