Tuchel may get the better of Klopp again in refreshing final

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp have similar views on how to play but the former tends to have the latter’s number.

Every time the Carabao Cup is on there’s a big discussion in the media about the tournament’s growing irrelevance and the inevitability that soon it will be scrapped. This debate takes place as if the universe demands it, like it’s a truth universally acknowledged – and seemingly with no self-awareness. If they stopped wistfully declaring their resignation to its imminent cancellation it would not be facing an existential threat. If they stopped talking about how everyone is talking about it then nobody would be talking about it.

The League Cup remains a serious competition with a rich history. So much joy has been given to so many supporters since its inception in 1960, from mid-table clubs enjoying a rare taste of success to Jose Mourinho using it as the springboard to record-breaking dominance at Chelsea. It is a unique competition and special for many fans, particularly those who have no hope of challenging for the top honours.

It is only this snobbish elite, those select few teams and their many, many supporters in high places in the media, who think the League Cup is clogging up the fixture list. If you don’t like it, then you can effectively withdraw by picking an academy team. The rest – Aston Villa in 2020, Southampton in 2017, Swansea City in 2013, Birmingham City in 2011, Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 – love a Wembley final and do not want the prospect of it swept away by the super-rich clearing their schedule for more lucrative games elsewhere.

Perhaps the conversation will naturally die down when this year’s final marks the definitive end of Manchester City’s six-year