The decisive Carabao Cup final moment came, as it turned out, just a few seconds before the 120-minute mark had been reached.
With the most pulsating and gripping of 0-0s heading towards a shoot-out showdown, Thomas Tuchel would reach for his apparent 'ace in the hole'.
Despite being a man-of-the-match contender, Edouard Mendy, who had earlier made the most inexplicable save to deny Senegal compatriot Sadio Mane, was hauled off in favour of second-choice goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
It has plainly not worked out for the £71m signing at Stamford Bridge but despite his dwindling status over the last four years since becoming the world's most expensive shot-stopper, Kepa, apparently, has reinvented himself as a penalty-saving specialist.
His reputation was such that the official Carabao Cup final programme ran a feature about this particular quality with the headline: 'Shoot-out Saviour'.
That reputation came from Kepa triumphing in three of his four shoot-outs in the League Cup prior to Sunday in a period where he made eight saves to overtake Petr Cech's club record of six.
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Then came the big moment at Wembley on Sunday and the perception changed. Massively so, in fact.
That Kepa was brought on to be the penalty hero before failing to save any of Liverpool's 11 and smashing his own kick down Wembley Way represented a spectacular backfiring for Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel.
The German's misery was perhaps compounded by the fortunes of his opposite number, and compatriot, when it came to Jurgen Klopp's own big goalkeeping calls of the final.
Make no mistake, eyebrows were raised when Klopp made the early, decisive call to name Caoimhin Kelleher in goal ahead of one of the most trusted and respected keepers in world football in Alisson Becker.
That was a selection decision made as early as January following the Reds' 2-0 win over Arsenal in the second leg of their semi-final tie.
'Play your best team' was the general counter-argument to Klopp's move. 'There's no room for sentiment in football', it was said.
And while there was plenty of logic and merit in that school of thought, Klopp held firm, granting Kelleher the chance to finish off a job he started in the third-round win at Norwich City back in September, which included a penalty save.
The unflappable Cork native did not disappoint.
In just his 17th senior game as a professional goalkeeper, Kelleher made himself an Anfield hero.
“I was dreaming good things [the night before], that we would win,” Kelleher said after the game. “But never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d score a penalty at the Liverpool end, the winning penalty. That’s just next level!”
The respective fortunes and developments of the two finalists' goalkeeping situations could not be more contrasting in both the match itself and their overall approaches from the two clubs.
For Chelsea, it was their world-record £71m flop who, however harshly some may view it, cost his team in the capital on Sunday evening.
A little over two years after the Londoners broke the bank for the former Athletic Bilbao man, they were forced to bring in Mendy from Rennes for a £22m fee, taking their spending on the two keepers to £93m.
From Liverpool's perspective, it was a young man picked up from Ringmahon Rovers in his mid-teens who was the real 'shoot-out saviour'.
Perhaps the true difference between Chelsea and Liverpool’s strategies can be encapsulated in these attitudes towards No.2 goalkeepers.
Liverpool are simply unable to make the kind of costly error that Chelsea have when recruiting Kepa to become first choice for the long term and Kelleher’s quiet steps towards his current status has been the result of years of modest hard work, patience and reward from both the player himself and the club’s goalkeeping department.
“A John Achterberg project,” Klopp called Kelleher earlier this season, in a nod to the implicit trust the long-serving head of goalkeeping has at the club.
"I saw from the first second that he is an incredible talent and then John Achterberg and Jack Robinson, they are very positive about him.
"And if you know how a football team works, you know that goalkeepers are very often separate so I don't see them all the time.”
The Irishman’s coolly dispatched spot-kick to make it 11-10 displayed all the additional extras that top keepers must now come fitted with as standard.
It is no longer simply a requirement to be a good handler of the football. The modern goalkeeper, particularly at Liverpool, must be quick-witted, fast off his mark to supplement the high defensive line and comfortable with the ball at his feet.
Klopp feels he has the perfect incumbent for that very specific style in Alisson Becker, but so too in Kelleher, for whom the stay in the side looks set to go on with Norwich up next in the FA Cup.
“Alisson Becker is the best goalkeeper in the world for me,” Klopp said in his post-match Wembley press conference.
"There are top goalies out there but this keeper (Alisson) is insane.
"But to be 100 per cent honest, for me, Kelleher is the best No.2 in the world, especially for the way we play.”
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The question for Kelleher, then, is just how long he is happy to be “the best No.2 in the world.”
Goalkeeping deputies are rarely internationals who are approaching their mid-20s and after 17 appearances for this Liverpool, there is ample evidence that he can cut it when it matters.
An ambitious Kelleher may yet give Liverpool a headache down the line if he decides that he is good enough to be playing regularly elsewhere, and the decision to start him at Wembley was made, in part, with that in mind, Klopp said last month.
"As a football manager you have to consider a lot of things and one of the things is…we consider Caoimhin as an outstanding goalie. Not a good goalie, an outstanding goalie, and we want to keep him here,” said Klopp.
There will come a time when those questions are asked more forcefully but for now, he can merely bask in the glow of his biggest moment in football.
He has certainly earned that right. So too has Klopp for his trust.
