Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp took the opportunity to single out Gabriel Martinelli and praise the Arsenal starlet as an “outstanding” player.
The Reds were held to a 0-0 draw in their first-leg Carabao Cup semi-final clash against 10-men Arsenal at Anfield.
However, Klopp’s men punched their ticket to the final of the cup competition with a 2-0 win over the Gunners on Friday at the Emirates.
Diogo Jota scored in either half of the second-leg semi-final clash, with Arsenal reduced to 10 men after the sending off of Thomas Partey.
Martinelli impressed on the night for Mikel Arteta’s men and caused all sorts of problems for Trent Alexander-Arnold out on Liverpool’s left flank.
Following Liverpool’s 2-0 win, Klopp hailed the 20-year-old Arsenal forward’s performance and urged everyone to remember his name.
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When asked about next month’s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea, he initially responded: “Martinelli, by the way, everybody should remember that name because he’s an outstanding player.”
Klopp added: “Chelsea… you play a final, it’s pretty likely you’ll face an outstandingly strong team, that’s what’s happening now.
“Nevertheless, we wanted to qualify and that’s what we did. Wembley is a special place -- how we all know.
“There’s a lot of games to play until then, so it’s not now that you just play next week or whatever.
“There are a lot of games to play, we will see where we are then. But we really put a lot of effort in this competition and we really wanted to go through.
“So when you go through, when you’re in the final, there’s absolutely no reason to be part of a final if you don’t want to win it. We want to win it but we know how difficult it will be.”
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Chelsea secured their place in the Carabao Cup final with back-to-back semi-final wins over London rivals Tottenham.
Defending Carabao Cup champions Manchester City were dumped out of the competition in the fourth round by West Ham.
Liverpool and Chelsea will collide in the final on 27th February at Wembley.
Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports/PATopics: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Arsenal, Carabao Cup, Premier League, England, Football
Adnan Riaz