Man City, Liverpool win shootouts in English League Cup as Fleetwood discovers next opponent
Manchester City and Liverpool avoided the fate that befell Arsenal by winning penalty shootouts on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the English League Cup.
City stayed on course to retain the title by twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Brighton at home, then triumph 4-3 in the shootout.
Backup goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli saved Brighton's last two spot kicks — from Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk — to rescue City, which had fallen behind in the shootout when Mateo Kovacic had the team's fourth penalty saved.
In a match that finished a half-hour later, Liverpool beat Chelsea 6-5 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw that saw both goals also come from the penalty spot at Anfield.
Wesley Fofana missed what proved to be the final kick of the shootout, smashing it well over the crossbar and into The Kop at Anfield as Liverpool celebrated another win on penalties over Chelsea — like in the FA Cup and League Cup finals in 2022.
Arsenal wasn't so lucky in a shootout Tuesday, losing in stunning fashion to fourth-tier minnow Fleetwood Town in one of the biggest shocks in the competition's 66-year history.
In other all-Premier League last-16 matchups on Wednesday, Bournemouth beat Aston Villa 3-0 for a fifth straight win in all competitions, Crystal Palace won 1-0 at Fulham, and Sunderland overcame Brentford 3-2.
Fleetwood Town vs. Everton or Newcastle
Manchester City vs. Bradford City
Crystal Palace vs. Sunderland
Liverpool vs. Bournemouth
Fleetwood's reward for beating the English champions was another home match in the last eight, against the winner of Thursday's final last-16 match between Everton and Newcastle.
Third-tier Bradford City — the beaten finalist in 2013 — is the other lower-league team still in the competition and next is away to Man City, the winner of seven of the last 13 League Cup titles.
Three of those titles are under scrutiny as they came in a nine-year period — 2009-18 — when the club was found by an investigatory panel to have committed large-scale financial rule-breaking.
Chelsea isn't in a European competition this season, placing extra emphasis on its runs in the domestic cups.
Its League Cup hopes are now over as Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso's return to Anfield — he played for Liverpool from 2004-09 — turned sour.
That despite his team taking the lead in the 40th minute through Morgan Rogers, who converted a penalty after Ryan Gravenberch fouled Moises Caicedo. Three minutes later, Cody Gakpo slotted home his own penalty after a handball from Fofana at a corner.
The shootout was an 18-shot epic. Liverpool's Konstantinos Tsimikas and Chelsea's Emmanuel Emegha — on his debut — both missed when having chances to clinch a win. With the 18th and final kick, Fofana skied the ball over.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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