Liverpool Beat Chelsea 6-5 on Penalties After 1-1 EFL Cup Draw at Anfield

By TaazaPulse News Desk · Published: 29 October 2026 · TaazaPulse International Desk

Anfield witnessed a cup tie that refused to be decided in 90 minutes. Liverpool and Chelsea drew 1-1 in a breathless EFL Cup fourth-round match on Wednesday night — two penalties in three first-half minutes at the heart of it — before the hosts held their nerve to win the shootout 6-5, Joe Gomez converting what proved the decisive kick before Wesley Fofana blazed Chelsea's last effort into the Kop.

The victory sends Andoni Iraola's side into the quarter-finals of a competition Anfield treats as part of the furniture. For Chelsea, whose manager Xabi Alonso had pointedly described the EFL Cup beforehand as "the least important competition for us", the exit will sting less for the result than for the manner of it: they led, they matched Liverpool kick for kick deep into sudden death, and they missed the final penalty of the night.

Two penalties in three minutes

The match turned on a chaotic spell just before half-time. Chelsea struck first on 40 minutes. Moisés Caicedo was brought down by Ryan Gravenberch, referee Darren England pointed to the spot, and Morgan Rogers converted the penalty to put the visitors ahead — another big-moment contribution from one of the signings of the season.

Liverpool's answer took three minutes. Fofana was penalised for handball inside his own area, England awarded a second penalty of the half, and Cody Gakpo stepped up to level the scores at 1-1. Anfield, subdued for long stretches of a first half Chelsea had controlled in spells, found its voice — and the tie never settled down again.

Chances at both ends, nothing to split them

The second half swung from end to end without a decisive touch. Liverpool, who made seven changes from their weekend side, shaded the underlying numbers — an expected-goals count of 2.19 to 1.88 and 52 per cent of possession — but Chelsea's rotated team, which included a start for the teenage defender Josh Acheampong, carried a threat throughout and had their own periods of pressure in front of the Kop.

There was a late reshuffle for the hosts when Virgil van Dijk was withdrawn on 72 minutes, Gomez taking the captain's armband — a detail that would matter later. Neither side could find a winner, and with no extra time in this competition, the tie went straight to penalties, to the part of the evening for which both goalkeepers had plainly been preparing.

The shootout, kick by kick

Eleven of the sixteen penalties taken were converted in a shootout that swung like the match itself. For Liverpool, Alexis Mac Allister, Alexander Isak, Gakpo, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola all scored; Kostas Tsimikas skied his effort over the bar and Gravenberch saw his penalty saved. For Chelsea, Pedro Neto, Rogers, Roméo Lavia, Henderson and Levi Colwill found the net — but Valentín Barco struck the post, Emanuel Emegha was denied by Giorgi Mamardashvili, and at 6-5 down in sudden death Fofana, who had conceded the first-half penalty, fired over the bar and into the Kop. Gomez's conversion — struck by the man wearing the armband — stood as the winner.

Why this cup keeps producing nights like this

There is a particular alchemy to the EFL Cup at Anfield. Liverpool are the competition's record ten-time winners, and their modern relationship with it has been built on exactly Wednesday's formula: a rotated side, a hostile night crowd, and — when the tie demands it — penalties. Chelsea, five-time winners themselves, arrived with their own pedigree in the fixture; the clubs' meetings in this competition include two finals in four seasons earlier in the decade, one of which also ended in a shootout of epic length. The fourth round is where the tournament's heavyweights enter and where its romance is supposed to die; instead, the round produced two shootouts in one night, at Anfield and the Etihad, that will be remembered longer than most finals.

For Mamardashvili, the shootout added another line to a growing reputation. The Georgia international built his name on penalty-area presence and shootout nerve long before arriving on Merseyside — his performances for his country at Euro 2024 made him one of the tournament's goalkeeping stories — and a decisive save in front of the Kop, denying Emegha with the tie on the line, is the sort of moment that converts a summer signing into a crowd favourite. Chelsea's young side, meanwhile, will replay two kicks: Barco's against the post at a moment when conversion would have seized control, and the final, fatal one from a defender who had already lived one nightmare in the tie by conceding the first-half penalty.

What the managers' approaches said

The team selections told the story of two clubs weighing the same competition differently. Iraola rotated seven players yet still fielded a side containing Van Dijk, Mac Allister, Wirtz and Isak — depth used aggressively rather than apologetically — and was rewarded with a performance that grew into the night. His Liverpool remain alive on every front they have entered this season, and their relationship with this trophy, won more times at Anfield than anywhere else in its recent history, continues.

Alonso had set his stall out before a ball was kicked with his "least important competition" line, and his selection matched it: rotation, youth, and an eye on the league and Europe. The frustration for Chelsea is that their understudies very nearly pulled it off. Rogers was excellent, Lavia controlled long stretches of midfield, and the tie was lost on the finest of margins — a post, a save, a skyed kick — rather than any gulf in quality.

What it means

Liverpool's reward is a quarter-final away to Bournemouth — a return to the south coast and to Iraola's former club that will carry its own storyline when the ties are played. The draw for the last eight in full: Bournemouth v Liverpool, Manchester City v Brentford, Newcastle United v Fulham and Cardiff City v Arsenal, a mix of holders, heavyweights and the competition's remaining lower-division romance in Cardiff.

For Chelsea, attention returns to the Premier League and Europe, where Alonso's side remain well placed; Wednesday costs them a trophy route but not momentum, and several fringe players strengthened their cases for more minutes. For Liverpool, the season's momentum gathers another night of evidence — and in Mamardashvili, a shootout save at the decisive end, they may have found a cup goalkeeper of rare nerve. Anfield has seen this film before: a midweek cup night, penalties at the Kop end, and a roar that rolls out towards the Mersey. This version was as loud as any of them.

TaazaPulse's football coverage continues on the International desk, including Wednesday's other fourth-round shootout thriller — Manchester City's penalty win over Brighton, a fixture the two clubs repeat in the Premier League on Saturday — and our report of Inter Miami's dramatic 2-2 draw with Cincinnati in MLS.