A Liverpool Fan Caught Kepa Arrizabalaga's Penalty And Took The Ball Home
A nice souvenir.
Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports
Topics: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Chelsea, Liverpool, Carabao Cup, England
Daniel Marland
Topics: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Chelsea, Liverpool, Carabao Cup, England
A Liverpool fan inside Wembley managed to catch Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga's wayward penalty and took the ball home.
Kepa replaced Edouard Mendy for Sunday's Carabao Cup final penalty shootout and had an absolute nightmare.
The Spain international failed to save any of Liverpool's 11 penalties and then skied his own over the bar to hand the Reds their ninth League Cup triumph.
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We all saw the jokes. Kepa's penalty landed in my backyard. It's not come back down yet. They go on and on. But one lucky supporter did manage to get his hands on a piece of history.
The child of whoever caught the ball took to Instagram with photographic evidence and posted: "Only dad would catch Kepa's penalty ball and keep it."
Imprinted on the ball is the date of the game, the teams involved and the stadium so it is indeed the very same ball.
Kepa had been Chelsea's goalkeeper throughout the Carabao Cup and also won the Super Cup penalty shootout for the Blues back in August.
It wasn't his afternoon however and the 27-year-old looked distraught as his penalty sailed into the crowd.
The decision to bring off Mendy, who made a number of vital saves in the game, for the shootout ruffled feathers in the Sky Sports studio.
Gary Neville on commentary admitted he didn't understand the decision while Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp went back and forth in the studio.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel defended Kepa and believes he still made the right decision.
"It is so bad for him of course, but no blame of course," Tuchel explained.
"We took the decision like we did last time in a penalty shoot-out, because Kepa is training with the players on a daily basis.
They know how good he is and he simply has more time to do this than Edou (Mendy) on the training ground.
"This plays a huge part in how good we shot today. Unfortunately he could not save any, the pens were brilliantly taken.
"It was a bit harsh on him today to be the guy to miss the one and only penalty today but there's no blame."
Kepa took to Twitter on Monday morning to apologise and thanked everyone for their ongoing support.