It was a festival of goals on Wednesday night when Arsenal traveled to Merseyside to play Liverpool in their Carabao Cup round of 16 encounter.
The atmosphere was lively even before the kick off as fans poured in in their thousands for the highly anticipated match and were not disappointed after being treated to 10 goals within regulation time and a nervy penalty kick out but it was the host that will have the day in an unpredictable but superbly entertaining match.
The two managers were quite experimental in their line up as both pitched young 11s in their starting line up a source of concern for the fans before the game began but that would soon be forgotten as even the fans couldn’t have imagined the kind of match that laid in store.
A characteristically defensive howler from Arsnal’s Center Back Shkodra Mustafi saw him turn in ex-Gunner, Alex Oxalade Chamberlain’s cross into his own goal 6th minute to make it 1- 0 to the host but the Londoners restored parity through Lucas Torreira 13 minutes later from here on the flood gates opened.
Teenage sensation Gabriel Martinelli made it 1-2 26 minutes into the match and 10 minutes later gave his side a 2 goal advantage making it 1-3 after 36 minutes of play but the young Reds weren’t going to be over-ran by an Arsenal side who had used counter attack to deadly efficiency as they pulled one back on the 43th minutes through a James Milner penalty. Hero Martinelli quickly traded roles when an ill-timed swung of the foot caught a charging Harvey Elliot leaving the Referee no option but to award the spot kick.
The match would resume after the break picking up right where it left off as the Reds conceded yet another Arsenal goal to make it 2-4. This time Milner uncharacteristically gave the ball away in his own area and Ozil teed up Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the 54th minute.
But it was Liverpool that would dictate what was to come next as they came from 2 goals down to draw level in that match. A stunner from Oxalade Chamberlain after some sloppy defending by the Gunners made matters 3-4 followed by an Origi’s powered effort for the equaliser to make it 4-4.
Both set of fans were loving it with an hint of uncertainty and nerviness around Anfield as both managers tried keep a straight face, Liverpool’s manager, Jürgen Klopp was full of smiles while his counterpart maintained a focused all-business expression, but it wasn’t hard to guess that neither manager would be happy about the defending on show but took consolation in the effectiveness of their sets of attacks.
Arsenal thought they’ve won a famous victory when Joe Willock smashed in a long range howler to send the away fans into a frenzy. The home fans were left nail-bitting until the very last moment, a last gasp attack from Liverpool gave Origi the chance to score one of his iconic and legendary all-important, tournament-defining goals. On the 94th minute, a scissors kick inside the 18-yard looked easy on the eye but somehow beat an awful Martinez in goal.
Martinez frankly should have saved at least one of Liverpool’s goals but poor starting position all night long was his undoing.
Celebrations broke out in front of the Kop after Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, 20, saved Dani Ceballos’ penalty to seal a 5-4 shootout win.