Humiliated, humbled and, frankly, embarrassed, it was probably a relief for Liverpool when the clock reached 90:00 and the referee Grace Lowe immediately blew the final whistle without adding any stoppage time. It brought a sympathetically early end to a chastening afternoon for the Reds, dismantled by a Chelsea side who barely needed to break sweat.
It is not supposed to be this easy in a quarter-final between top-flight sides. The scoreboard read 9-1. “At least it wasn’t 10,” one home fan said while trudging back to the car. The truth is, it could have been worse, had Chelsea not rather bizarrely had two set-piece goals ruled out for soft-looking fouls in the box that no Liverpool player seemed to appeal for.
