Jurgen Klopp hails 'unbelievable' Liverpool youngsters after Carabao Cup final win over Chelsea - 'absolutely insane'

A beaming Jurgen Klopp showered praise on Liverpool's youngsters after their Carabao Cup final triumph against Chelsea.

Virgil van Dijk's goal deep into extra-time earned the Reds a 1-0 victory at Wembley.

The Reds were missing a number of key players for the clash, with the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai all out injured.

Conor Bradley, 20, started the game, while academy graduates Bobby Clark, James McConnell, Jayden Danns and Jarell Quansah all came off the bench.

And that made the victory even more sweet for Klopp, who lifted his seventh major trophy as Liverpool boss.

"It’s absolutely insane," he told Sky Sports. "These things are not possible! A team, a squad, an academy full of character. It’s unbelievable what happened here tonight.

"I’m so proud that I could be part of that tonight. Wow! The crazy stuff is we deserved it. Yes, we had lucky moments, they had lucky moments. That’s fine. It was a tough game for 120 minutes. The boys showed up and it was really cool.

"I'm pretty sure that when we brought on all the kids, people were thinking ‘that’s it now, they give up. They’ve got a game on Wednesday’. That was really not the case.

"We thought we needed fresh legs - and the fresh legs were fresh, but very young. But they did the jobs. Danns headed against the crossbar. There was another one, a scrappy ball, maybe he could score from there. James [McConnell] and Bobby [Clark], what they did, it’s unbelievable.

This is Klopp's second Carabao Cup final triumph since joining Liverpool, with the Reds also beating Chelsea two years ago.

On that occasion they needed penalties for victory, and the game appeared to be heading for a similar conclusion when extra time was required to split the two teams.

There had been plenty of chances throughout though, with Van Dijk having an earlier header controversially chalked off for offside against Wataru Endo, while Caoimhin Kelleher saved nine shots at the other end.

Klopp reserved some special words for the Ireland international stopper, praising what he described as an "unbelievable" display.

"What a mature performance," he manager continued. "I’ve said it so often. We have the best goalkeeper in the world, and the best No. 2 in the world.

"It’s unbelievable how he played. I’m so happy for him as well. Top game."

Kelleher was also in goal when Liverpool beat Chelsea two years ago, while he has featured more prominently in the Premier League this season due to fitness issues for regular No. 1 Alisson Becker.

"It’s hard to sum up," the 25-year-old added. "These are the moments you dream of, celebrating with the fans and winning a trophy at Wembley. It’s hard to describe.

"We won’t get ahead of ourselves, but it’s a great start, to give us momentum for the rest of the season. With players to come back, the young lads have been brilliant as well, we’re in a good place at the moment.

"We just need to keep it going, I think. Winning the first trophy is the first step. Hopefully we can win a few more as well."

Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was left crestfallen by his side's failure to get over the line.

Raheem Sterling had a goal ruled out for a tight offside call in the first half, while Conor Gallagher also hit the post and spurned a number of other chances.

It means the Argentine remains trophyless in English football, having also been defeated in the League Cup final when in charge of Spurs in 2014-15.

"We lost in the last minute of the game and it’s so painful," he admitted. "Now, we only need to take the positive things. We want to keep going. We want to use this type of game to learn and be better and only be positive.

"We really competed. In some periods of the game, I think we deserved more, but if you do not score with the chances that we have, I think maybe five or six big chances, it’s difficult to win the final.

"I think we didn’t have the energy. We had to suffer a little bit and I think it’s normal. We cannot refresh the midfield and of course, it’s true that we were waiting for the penalties, because the effort, it was massive.

"Now we can talk about many things, but when you lose it’s so painful. We need to keep going, keep moving. On Wednesday, we have another game."

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.