Liverpool advance to the semi-finals of this season’s Carabao Cup, with a 2-1 victory over a spirited Southampton side kicked off by Darwin Nunez‘s goal.
Southampton 1-2 Liverpool
Carabao Cup Quarter-Final | St Mary’s
December 18, 2024
Goals
Nunez 24′ (assist – Alexander-Arnold)
Elliott 32′ (assist – Gakpo)
Archer 59′
Despite their eight changes, Liverpool remained favourites heading into their quarter-final at St Mary’s, and began the game in control – with nominal centre-back Wataru Endo given license to push forward into midfield.
A heavy downpour on the south coast certainly affected the momentum of the game, with the ball not moving well on the wet turf as the Reds funnelled much of their play down the left flank with Cody Gakpo.
Liverpool took the lead after 24 minutes and through some outstanding play from captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, who twice turned out of danger before lofting the ball through to Nunez via a deflection, the Uruguayan finishing well for 1-0.
The Reds began to dominate and were 2-0 up before long, with brilliant work from Gakpo driving in from the left seeing him eventually feed it to Harvey Elliott, who marked his first start of the season with a goal.
The rest of the half was a saunter for Liverpool, with their hosts – surely one of the worst Premier League sides in recent history – sorely lacking in quality.
HT: Southampton 0-2 Liverpool
Half-time brought the welcome return of both Kostas Tsimikas and, at long last, Federico Chiesa, who took the place of Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold with Tyler Morton shifting to right-back.
The changes, which saw both full-backs come off and Elliott also move into midfield to cover for Morton, left Liverpool needing time to readjust – and Southampton punished that with Cameron Archer producing a stunning goal to make it 2-1.
Caoimhin Kelleher made a deft save before a brave block from Jarell Quansah as the Reds weathered a brief storm, and on came Diogo Jota with just under 30 minutes to play.
The strength and intelligence of Morton and Endo saw Liverpool out of dangerous situations as Southampton pushed for an equaliser with their crowd backing them, the 22-year-old Morton particularly impressive out of position.
Chiesa twice fired efforts on target only to be blocked, with the Reds eager to add a third goal to avoid any threat of a penalty shootout.
Though they were unable to find the back of the net again, so too were Southampton, with Liverpool emerging 2-1 victors and booking their place in the semi-finals along with Newcastle, Arsenal and one of Tottenham or Man United.
TIA Man of the Match: Tyler Morton
Referee: Simon Hooper
Southampton: McCarthy; Bree (Sugawara 61′), Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek (Brereton Diaz 84′), Wood, Manning; Downes (Kamaldeen 73′), Fernandes; Aribo (Lallana 84′), Dibling, Archer (Onuachu 73′)
Subs not used: Lumley, Edwards, Fraser, Amo-Ameyaw
Liverpool: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold (Chiesa 46′), Endo, Quansah, Gomez (Tsimikas 46′); Morton, Nyoni (Danns 86′), Mac Allister (McConnell 63′); Elliott, Gakpo (Jota 63′), Nunez
Subs not used: Jaros, Nallo, Norris, Ngumoha
Next match: Tottenham (A) – Premier League – Sunday, December 22, 4.30pm (GMT)
