Liverpool can take first step to unprecedented quadruple by following Chelsea blueprint in EFL Cup final

When these two clubs met in the final of this competition in 2005, the result and fallout signalled a notable shift in the English football landscape. Liverpool as a club were naturally used to success and had lifted the trophy in 2001 and 2003 when they took on a Chelsea side in the early stages of their revolution under Roman Abramovich.

Ad/> The Russian businessman’s acquisition of the club some 18 months earlier was seen as a threat to the perceived established order in the Premier League, and the first trophy of this new regime was secured with a 3-2 extra time win over Rafa Benitez’s Reds at the Millennium Stadium. Premier League'I got a little bit carried away' — Klopp on wild celebrationYESTERDAY AT 10:59 This milestone triumph of the Abramovich era came at a time when rival fans – Liverpool especially – would mock Chelsea for their supposed lack of ‘history’.

Exactly 17 years to the day later, Chelsea will look to win the cup for the fourth time under the Russian which would make it 19 major trophies – excluding the Community Shield and European Super Cup – since his arrival in 2003. That list includes five Premier League titles and two Champions League wins — as well as the Club World Cup just earlier this month — which has truly solidified Chelsea’s place among football’s elite.

This is the kind of success Liverpool teams of the past would consider the norm but in something of a contrast, since 2005, their own trophy haul has been comparatively sparing. Salah and Mane hit braces as Liverpool hammer Leeds and close in on City Fabinho reveals secret behind recent Liverpool goalscoring run 'It never stops' — Tuchel wants more success after Chelsea crowned world club champions Two Champions League wins in that