Carabao Cup 2024/25: Liverpool routs Tottenham 4-0 to set up final against Newcastle

Carabao Cup 2024/25: Liverpool routs Tottenham 4-0 to set up final against Newcastle

Liverpool reached the final of the English League Cup by routing Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 on Thursday and maintained its pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple of trophies.

Goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk at Anfield overturned Spurs’ 1-0 lead from the semifinal first leg to seal a 4-1 aggregate victory.

Liverpool will play Newcastle in the final at Wembley Stadium on March 16 for the chance to retain the trophy it won last year.

Arne Slot’s team is top of the Premier League, into the round of 16 in the Champions League and also in the FA Cup in what is turning out to be an outstanding first season in charge for the Dutchman. The League Cup would give him the chance to lift his first piece of silverware since succeeding Jurgen Klopp in the offseason.

Such a humbling defeat for Tottenham, meanwhile, will likely lead to more speculation about the future of manager Ange Postecoglou, with his team languishing 14th in the league and having won just four of its last 13 games in all competitions.

The League Cup had felt like a lifeline for the Australian and the chance to lift Spurs’ first trophy since it won the same competition in 2008. But the Londoners were overwhelmed by a Liverpool team that is sweeping aside all-comers this term.

Gakpo’s first-time finish with his right foot leveled the tie on aggregate in the 34th minute and Liverpool took complete control after the break.

Salah fired a penalty high into the top corner in the 51st after Darwin Nunez was brought down by Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the box and Szoboszlai ended a slick Liverpool attack with a low finish in the 75th.

Van Dijk headed in Liverpool’s fourth from a corner five minutes later.

The League Cup proved to be Klopp’s final piece of silverware in a trophy-laden reign at Liverpool with victory against Chelsea in last year’s final. Then, as now, the Merseyside club was in contention for a quadruple, but ended up with just one trophy.

Slot’s team looks better placed to win multiple titles — sitting six points clear in the league.

For Newcastle, the final marks a chance to end its 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy. Its last trophy was the now-defunct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969 and the most recent domestic title was the FA Cup in 1955.

Despite being bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2021, it is still waiting to end that trophy drought. But a 4-0 aggregate victory over Liverpool’s closest title rival Arsenal is evidence of the threat posed by Eddie Howe’s team in the final.