Luis Diaz, a forward for Liverpool, has disclosed that he was aware of his teammate Fabinho's plans for a penalty in the Carabao Cup final penalty shootout against Chelsea. The Merseyside giants won the Cup for the seventh time in club history, defeating Chelsea in a dramatic penalty shootout in the final.
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga had his chance after 21 faultless penalties, but he sailed his effort over the bar. It was a humiliating moment for the goalkeeper, who was brought in solely for the shootout by Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel. Both teams' penalties were of exceptional quality, but Liverpool's players stole the show. The best of the bunch was Virgil van Dijk's strike past Kepa, as the Dutch captain utterly devastated the Chelsea goalkeeper.
Arrizabalaga tried to fool van Dijk by standing to his right, creating a large opening for the Dutchman to exploit, but the Reds defender headed for the opposite side. Fabinho, who came up with a Panenka, was another player who drew the eye with his spot kick.
The Brazilian took a huge risk by attempting Panenka in a cup final. Luis Diaz, on the other hand, has stated that the 28-year-old planned it all along. According to the official website of Liverpool FC, Diaz said:
"We were taking penalty kicks in the days leading up to the final, and we definitely practiced together." 'If it comes down to penalties, I'm going to do a Panenka,' he'd joked. 'I can't believe that,' I murmured. 'No, you can't do that!' I was laughing at him. If something goes wrong in a final, the supporters will take it very badly.'’
"So when the time came for him to stand up, I thought to myself, 'Blimey, is he going to do this?' It just goes to demonstrate the player's class and quality that he pulled it off the way he did. In a nice manner, I was astonished and surprised at how it happened."
Fabinho has been a fantastic penalty taker for the majority of his career. In his career, the Brazilian has only missed one penalty out of 24 attempts. Liverpool are fortunate to have so many talented penalty takers in their ranks, which is why Fabinho isn't their first pick. The Reds' primary penalty taker, Mohamed Salah, and James Milner are both known for their penalty-taking abilities.
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