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LIVERPOOL OVERTURNED A first-leg deficit to reach the League Cup final with a 4-0 win on Thursday and ramp up the pressure on Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou.
Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk were on target for the Reds, who will face Newcastle at Wembley on 16 March for the first silverware of the English season.
Liverpool remain on course for a quadruple in a dream debut season for Arne Slot.
They enjoy a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League, have cruised into the last 16 of the Champions League and visit Championship strugglers Plymouth in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday.
Spurs’ trophy drought on the other hand goes on. Tottenham last lifted silverware in 2008 and Postecoglou now has one less opportunity to fulfil his promise of winning a trophy in his second season.
There is speculation the Australian could be shown the door if another goes awry away to Aston Villa in the FA Cup at the weekend with Spurs languishing 14th in the Premier League.
Despite having more glamorous titles to win, Slot showed his desire to make the League Cup his first trophy as Liverpool boss by naming his strongest available team bar the usual rotation in goal for cup competitions as Caoimhin Kelleher replaced Alisson Becker.
New signing Kevin Danso was forced straight into Tottenham’s injury-ravaged defence, while Mathys Tel also made an early debut off the bench after Richarlison hobbled off injured.
Liverpool had scored four in each of the previous two meetings between the sides at Anfield and repeated that feat to make light of their 1-0 first-leg defeat in north London last month.
The home side had taken the first quarter to find their stride but the pressure built after Szoboszlai ran offside before sweeping home Salah’s pass.
From the Egyptian’s next delivery into the box, Spurs did not escape as Gakpo drilled in first time to move clear as the top scorer in this season’s competition with five goals.
Antonin Kinsky kept Salah waiting for his goal with a fine save moments later, but at the other end of the field, Richarlison lay prone to leave Postecoglou’s team further depleted.
Already without record signing Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson, James Maddison, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert in attacking areas, Tottenham never looked capable of mounting the threat they needed to survive the Liverpool onslaught.
The decisive blow came five minutes into the second half when Kinsky rushed off his line but was beaten to the ball by Darwin Nunez and caught the Uruguayan.
Salah ruthlessly dispatched the resulting penalty into the top corner for his 26th goal of the season.
Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch fired off the post as Liverpool put their foot down to kill the tie off.
The killer third goal came 15 minutes from time when Connor Bradley, who excelled in the absence of the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold, played in Szoboszlai to slot home.
Van Dijk then exposed Spurs’ struggles defending set-pieces by heading in the fourth from a corner to rub salt in the visitors’ wounds.
Newcastle are eying an end to their 56-year wait for a major trophy after an impressive 4-0 humbling of Arsenal on aggregate in the other semi-final.
But the Magpies have the unenviable task of stopping Slot’s juggernaut if they are to do so.
Written by The 42 and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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What extra Cork to Dublin flights ????.as we’ve no scheduled flights to there as it is !!!
@John O’Driscoll: He hasn’t a clue really. Populist request…… Extra trains and buses are all that’s needed. At least they will leave you close to Croke Park
WOW, he really has his hand on the pulse of what is happening in Cork
It’s 2 hours up the motorway…
@Richard K: hmmm… it’s 2 hours from Naas my guy. Welcome to the city.
@Richard K: 2 hours driving from some parts of West Cork and you are still In the county of Cork.
Has Tommy lost the plot?? He was complaining a few weeks ago about the price of match tickets. There haven’t been Cork to Dublin flights for years!!
I think Thomas will get a telling off from mary lou over this one…a bit like the helicopter to the Galway races
Jaysus, All Irelands for over a hundred years, the same distance, similar ground capacities and now you want to fly to Dublin. Travel like you always did or stay at home and moan that you wasted your ticket because you couldn’t get a flight. Proper fan indeed. Up Cork, Up Clare.
Actually, drive up to Shannon, lol.
There was another Cork TD or Senator on last week, wanting the motorway tolls to be eliminated next Sunday…Jesu* wept !!
@John Manahan: Actually a good suggestion to help traffic flow. Especially with both counties traffic on the same road for part of the way. Would only have to leave them open for a couple of hours in the evening. Operators aren’t dependent on those kind of bonanzas.
Just after the local elections, sinn fein said that they need to listen to the people more…
Should a party not exist because of certain principles and ideas that makes up its ethos, and people vote on which party best represents their thoughts, rather than each party bending and twisting trying to muster votes from each side.
Fianna fail and fine gael are no better..
We end up with parties that don’t really stand for anything, left or right leaning
What an extremely sad man he is.
Welcome to another climate change denier. God be with the good auld days when they’d set off walking on Wednesday to be there for the match. Notions, that’s what it is, flights how are ye!
Flights from cork to dublin? La de da. Nothing wrong with the aircoach.
The Coveney posse shud be able to fit a few of the loyal in down the back
If O’Leary was any good he would sort out a few flights for it.
@Padraig: If the GAA were any good they’d give the 2 participating counties a bigger share of the tickets.
@Padraig: It ain’t his job Pádraig!
Sorry!!
Far more important things for a TD to be doing me thinks
It’s great to see people who haven’t been to games all year can fly back after securing a ticket
Lots of places to go in ireland if you want to see people fighting with sticks.
He’s right about going to Croke Park. Men actually walked to the match along the railway tracks. One man would cycle 30- 40 miles in limerick to play in in a match. The country was impoverished for many years after the founding of the state. People emigrated never to return. It’s seeing the past through rose tinted glasses. My family would get parcels from America. Swiss family Robinson was an amazing book I read in the 1950s. Another version of the wild geese after WWll it was. We had no political leaders until people like lemass took up the reins. Everything changed then. Sport was an incredibly unifying force. I met a Canadian sports commentator in Portugal once. He said “don’t tell me, don’t tell me “. I was just after flying from Dublin where I saw the hurling final.
Maybe rail line from the airport aswell.
No climate worries for that weekend put on 10 extra flights another waster
have your say