Jurgen Klopp pays tribute to Caoimhin Kelleher after resisting the urge to start Alisson

Jurgen Klopp paid an emotional tribute to Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final hero Caoimhin Kelleher after the No 2 stopper paid his manager back for starting him ahead of Alisson Becker at Wembley.

Klopp had picked Kelleher to play in most of the previous rounds of the tournament and resisted the temptation to play his first choice for the showpiece event on Sunday.

And Kelleher paid back the loyalty by keeping a clean sheet across 90 minutes and extra-time at Wembley before scoring the winning spot-kick as Liverpool edged Chelsea 11-10 on penalties. 

Jurgen Klopp paid tribute to his No 2 after getting his hands an another piece of silverware 

‘Even in professional football there should be space for some sentiment,’ Klopp said. ‘Caoimhin Kelleher is a young boy, plays in all the competition, what do I do?

‘I am two things, a professional manager and a human being and the human being won. He deserves it.

‘At the training centre we have a wall that all goalkeepers are on who won something and Caoimhin can go on it – that’s how it should be – absolutely great.

‘I am happy for the people to celebrate something like this. Chelsea are incredibly strong, we matched each other.

Klopp resisted the urge to start No 1 keeper Alisson (right) for the final at Wembely

‘That is the start, we are not silly. We need to have luck – we had luck, that could have been 5-5.

‘I’m fine now but I would have been fine with 90 minutes and 1-0 to Liverpool and we go home. I am happy for the people in dark times to celebrate something like this.

‘We have to work hard. We play on Wednesday again, which I cannot believe now. We will give it a try. It is a home game and it will be rocking because of tonight.’