By BBC Sport
Chelsea and Liverpool will meet in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley today, February 26, to decide who wins the first domestic trophy of 2022.
Thomas Tuchel and Jurgen Klopp have both been crowned European champions with their respective sides, but neither has won a cup in English football.
Chelsea last won the competition in 2015 but it is a decade since Liverpool got their hands on the prize.
There will also be a different name on the trophy for the first time since 2017, with today’s final kicking off at 16:30 GMT.
That is because Manchester City have won the competition for the past four years – beating Chelsea on penalties in the 2019 final – but were knocked out this season in the fourth round by West Ham.
This is the first of four potential trophies Liverpool could win this season, after closing the gap on Premier League leaders City to three points and progressing in the Champions League and FA Cup.
“It’s second time for me in this competition and I have lost so many finals in my life, but the few I won and the ones I lost didn’t hold me back to try again,” Liverpool boss Klopp told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“We realised how big it is during the ride – each round we made, it was always really, really nice.
“If we could win it then it will be a proper trophy for the whole club because we used players from the under-18s, under-23s and it makes a really nice journey and a really nice story and I hope we can bring it back and celebrate it with the academy.
“In 20 years if you want to talk about this team, I would not be surprised if people would then say if we don’t win anything any more, ‘yeah they were good, but they should have won more’.
“That’s why we should try now to win a few things. And the next chance, the best chance we have this weekend, is against Chelsea when it’s really tricky.”
But Champions League holders Chelsea could complete an early hat-trick of titles this season too, having already lifted the European Super Cup and Club World Cup.
A tale of two goalkeepers
Klopp has already put his faith in back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who is expected to replace first-choice Alisson Becker for the final.
The 23-year-old Republic of Ireland international has played the majority of Liverpool’s games in the competition this season and kept a clean sheet in the semi-final second-leg win over Arsenal.
“Kelleher is a really good example,” said Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders. “Him reaching the final, it shows that there’s an inside path for young goalkeepers at the club.
“A compliment for the goalkeeper department, that is what I like. It’s possible a young keeper can make the final, it’s nice to see.”
Chelsea have their own goalkeeping conundrum, with Kepa Arrizabalaga playing in every round so far instead of Blues number one Edouard Mendy.
Tuchel says the Spaniard “absolutely deserves” to start the final but would not confirm whether that will happen at Wembley.
“This is very easy to say – Kepa absolutely deserves to play and I also cannot get sentimental about it,” added the German. “I have to do what in the end is, in my opinion, the very best solution for the team.
“I know that this position is a very sensitive position. If Kepa was a player in the other 10 positions we would not have these discussions, we would just be full of praise and he would feel that praise in minutes on the pitch.”
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