Regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s League Cup final with Chelsea, this year’s tournament has been a success for Liverpool.
It's the competition that saw Kaide Gordon, Conor Bradley, Tyler Morton, Owen Beck and Harvey Blair all make their Reds debuts, and provided valuable minutes for fringe players such as Caoimhin Kelleher, Neco Williams and Joe Gomez.
It gave Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi the platform to send a reminder of their talents to their critics despite their sometimes limited game-time.
And, courtesy of that dramatic comeback victory over Leicester City in the quarter-finals especially, it became a tournament Liverpool fans suddenly rediscovered their care and affection for. Whether he set out to or not, in that sense Jurgen Klopp has achieved the impossible.
Such a feat is admirable considering that the League Cup is often labelled a 'Mickey Mouse tournament' with widespread squad rotation across the top-flight making a mockery of its competition.
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Admittedly Liverpool are guilty as any of that. Aside from Kelleher, it would be a surprise if any of the aforementioned players were named in the Reds' starting XI at Wembley, with the out on loan Williams and the majority of youngsters unlikely to even make the bench.
But they are the reason Liverpool are participating in Sunday’s final. It has taken a whole squad effort to get this far, with Jurgen Klopp using 29 players in the competition so far this season. And that is why this season's tournament has been such a success and positive experience at Anfield.
With Mohamed Salah, Thiago Alcantara, Sadio Mane, Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott yet to feature, that total will inevitably grow against Chelsea.
And while they will be some of the players looking to lift the trophy, the Reds’ real champions would be these lesser-spotted winners they produced along the way when toppling Norwich City, Preston North End, Leicester and Arsenal.
Tyler Morton is one such player, and one who will certainly miss out, having come off injured in the first half of the Under-23s’ 4-1 victory away at Arsenal on Friday night and later been pictured on crutches.
A breakthrough star for the Reds during the first half of the season after staking his first claim in the League Cup, the midfielder would start for Liverpool in both the Premier League and Champions League as Klopp’s side successfully navigated an injury crisis in the engine room.
However, he has played just once for the first team in 2022 following the likes of Thiago and Elliott’s return from injury.
The teenager’s time will come again but as the Reds’ season speeds up across four fronts, the senior involvement of Liverpool youngsters will dwindle.
Having closed the gap on Man City to just three points in the Premier League title-race in midweek, Klopp’s men continue to hunt down the reigning champions, while have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals courtesy of a 2-0 first leg win over Inter Milan.
Meanwhile, their first outing after Sunday’s final will be against Norwich in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday. As Liverpool chase an unprecedented quadruple, a League Cup win could be the success to send them on their way to greater glory.
In contrast, a final defeat could motivate them to bounce back stronger as their 2018 2018 Champions League final defeat did 12 months later, and the same again in the Premier League when finally crowned champions in 2019/20.
The Reds boast a rich history with the League Cup, in its many guises, having won it more times than any other side, though Man City’s recent domination of the tournament did see them go level with Liverpool’s total of eight wins last year.
Now on Sunday they have the opportunity to be outright leaders once again.
Historically the League Cup has predominantly made a good Reds season better, setting Liverpool on their way for future glory.
Winning it four times in a row in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984, they would win multiple trophies in each campaign.
A rare First Division misfire, finishing fifth in 1980/81, became somewhat overlooked courtesy of a European Cup and League Cup double, with a replay victory over West Ham at Villa Park in April Liverpool’s first triumph in the tournament and came just short of two months of beating Real Madrid in Paris.
Meanwhile, they would manage League and League Cup doubles in 1981/82 and 1982/83, with extra-time needed to topple first Tottenham Hotspur and then Manchester United.
But the best was to come in 1983/84 as Bob Paisley signed off as Reds manager with an historic treble, with his side insisting he lifted the League Cup trophy in March 1984 after Graeme Souness’ replay strike at Maine Road settled the first ever all-Merseyside cup final against Everton.
League glory would follow of course, as would Liverpool’s fourth European Cup as they downed AS Roma on penalties in their own backyard.
Fast forward 17 years and the Reds were treble-winners once again, with Gerard Houllier lifting his first trophy as Liverpool manager courtesy of a penalty shootout against Birmingham City at the Millennium Stadium in February 2001.
FA Cup glory over Arsenal, UEFA Cup victory over Alaves and maiden Champions League qualification would all follow in May.
Even in lesser seasons, it has offered a much-needed respite with Roy Evans’ men beating Bolton Wanderers in 1995, Houllier claiming his second in in a disappointing season in 2003 courtesy of victory over Manchester United, and Kenny Dalglish clinching his only trophy during his second spell as manager when defeating Cardiff City on penalties in 2012.
But the Reds are already poised to achieve more than in any of those three aforementioned campaigns.
Having been crowned champions of England, Europe and the world under Klopp, the German’s Liverpool know what it takes to win and their names are already in the Reds record books.
Yet the majority lack domestic cup glory. Now they have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of many a Reds legend that dominated once before them and replicate the successes of such idols once again..
Be it Milk, Coca-Cola, Worthington’s or Carling, Liverpool have always had an affiliation with the League Cup.
Admittedly somewhat forgotten and overlooked in recent years, the stage is set for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final to now rekindle an historic Reds love affair.
