Soccer
Liverpool 3-3 (5-4 pen.) Leicester City: Reds mount comeback to advance to Carabao Cup semifinals
On Wednesday, a heavily rotated Liverpool side defeated visiting Leicester City in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals of the 2021-22 Carabao Cup, with Diogo Jota's scoring the decisive spot-kick to cap off a furious comeback.
The Reds were overwhelmed by an early onslaught from the Foxes, featuring a makeshift backline and backup goalkeeper. Jamie Vardy struck twice within a four-minute span, first scoring in the ninth minute after latching onto a through ball and quickly firing a low shot past Liverpool netminder Caoimhin Kelleher. The 34-year-old striker then doubled his team's tally in the 13th minute, beating defender Konstantinos Tsimikas in a foot race and tapping in a well-weighted pass from Patson Daka.
The home side cut the lead in half just six minutes later, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain firing home from the top of the penalty area. However, Leicester reclaimed the two-goal advantage in the 33rd minute as James Maddison collected the ball about 30 yards from goal before unleashing an unstoppable strike.
The flurry of goals dried up over the next half hour as Liverpool searched for a way back into the match. Eventually, the Reds would give the Anfield crowd hope as Diogo Jota found a yard of space inside the area thanks to a nice pass by Takumi Minamino and smashed the ball past Leicester's keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Jota nearly got himself on the scoresheet in the 82nd minute when he met a powerful Naby Keita shot with his head and redirected it at goal from close range, but Schmeichel's reflexes were up to the task, and the goalkeeper made a great diving save.
That looked to be Liverpool's last good chance as the visitors continued to find ways to keep the ball away from their penalty area as time ran down. Unfortunately for the Foxes, their efforts fell short deep into stoppage time as James Milner's long, searching ball into the box evaded the head of Wilfred Ndidi and fell to Minamino, who chested it down before blasting it past Schmeichel to level the match at 3-3.
Minamino's last-gasp equalizer sent Anfield into raptures and the game into penalties, where Jota's shot in the sixth round of kicks secured a spot for Liverpool in the semifinals.
