Jurgen Klopp's heartfelt answer on picking Kelleher sums up his brilliant man-management

Caoimhin Kelleher was one of Liverpool’s heroes during the Carabao Cup win over Chelsea on Sunday evening.

While Edouard Mendy was at the top of his game with a series of outrageous saves under the Wembley arch, it shouldn’t take away from the fact that Kelleher was similarly watertight at the opposite end.

And although his thunderous penalty just moments before Kepa Arrizabalaga’s match-deciding miss will take the headlines, there was more to Kelleher’s performance than just an unexpected spot-kick.

With a clean sheet across 120 minutes against the European champions, the 23-year-old showed his quality with four saves and the joint-highest SofaScore match rating out of either team’s starters.

All in all, it was a thoroughly convincing vindication that Jurgen Klopp was right to stick by Kelleher, who had played in Liverpool‘s previous Carabao Cup games, ahead of regular number one Alisson Becker.

The managerial quandary of whether or not to keep your cup goalkeeper as your cup goalkeeper during finals has long been a predicament with different coaches having varying views on the matter.

Besides, it’s not hard to imagine many a top-class manager putting an arm around Kelleher’s shoulder and telling him that he’d been dropped for the superior goalkeeper – and, well, you’d understand to an extent.

However, not Klopp, because he admirably stuck by Liverpool’s number two in a decision that he broke down in fabulously honest and human style when asked about it in his post-match interviews.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the Liverpool boss brilliantly admitted that he parked his role as a football coach to the side for a second and embraced sentimentality by believing in the young Irishman.

Klopp said after the game: “Even in