Liverpool wins League Cup by beating Chelsea 11-10 in penalty shootout, with goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher the hero

Liverpool have held their nerve to win an astonishing penalty shootout 11-10 and edge out Chelsea in the English League Cup final after a thrilling contest somehow ended 0-0 after extra time at Wembley.

Both sides could claim to have been deserving winners in a classic free-flowing encounter full of goal-scoring chances, remarkable saves and four disallowed goals.

Even in the penalty shootout the two heavyweights were inseparable with 21 successful kicks ratcheting up the tension.

In the end it came down to an unlikely duel between two goalkeepers, with young Irish Liverpool shot-stopper Caoimhin Kelleher belting his penalty past Kepa Arrizabalaga, who had replaced Edouard Mendy for the shoot-out.

Spaniard Arrizabalaga then blazed his effort over the bar into the massed ranks of Liverpool supporters who celebrated the club's first domestic Cup silverware for a decade.

While Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp had won the Premier League and Champions League since arriving at Anfield, it was a rare cup success for the German who had won only two of his previous eight finals with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool.

Klopp's decision to stay loyal to stand-in keeper Kelleher, who has featured throughout the run to the final, rather than revert to Alisson, was richly rewarded, although the Irishman could hardly have imagined scoring the decisive penalty in a shootout.

«It's a mad one. When it came down to me I didn't even think I had scored the winning penalty,» he said.

«It was more hit and hope.

»I got close to (stopping) a few but all the penalties were very high quality; thankfully we were able to win."

For Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel it meant his hopes of a fourth trophy in just over a year at Stamford Bridge fell just short. He won the