Jurgen Klopp has already confirmed which goalkeeper he intends to use in next month’s League Cup final, after his side booked their place at Wembley with a 3-2 aggregate win over Fulham.
The Reds reached the showpiece for the second time in three seasons with a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage, after Luis Diaz‘s first-half strike was cancelled out by Issa Diop late on.
Attention has already turned to the big one in a month’s time, with fans quick to question who will be between the sticks against Chelsea.
Klopp addressed that question in his post-match press conference, revealing that Caoimhin Kelleher will get the nod at Wembley and explaining the difference between his place and Jarell Quansah‘s.
“Imagine that,” laughed Klopp when asked about the prospect of not picking the Irishman for the final.
“Oh, that’s a different situation a little bit between Caoimhin and Jarell for example.
“So Jarell is part of, if you want, the rotation crew, easy as that. And that’s how it is, we have to.
“Imagine we now play two all the time, we don’t want to do it and we will not, as long as we can make these decisions we will.
“Caoimhin is a top, top, top, top goalie, and when Ali is fit he doesn’t have a lot of games so I want to give him, desperately, the opportunity to play because it’s important for development and he deserves it on top of that because he’s always there, he gives his absolute everything, like Adrian by the way it’s the same.”
Supporters may have been left wondering if Alisson would get the chance to start at Wembley next month, with Kelleher having played four of the six games en route to the Reds lifting the trophy in 2022.
The Irishman is considered the club’s League Cup goalkeeper, however, and Klopp was quick to insist that both he and Alisson are aware of the way that situation works.
He continued: “They deserve moments in this competition, and I told Ali before the season, no two years ago it was already like that, right?”
“So I don’t know exactly how many games he played now already, but with the Europa League there were a few and that’s how it works.
“He was really happy after the game today, he’s not smiling a lot, at least when I’m around but after the game, I could see he was really happy about qualifying again and having the chance again to win the second trophy of his career, which would be a big one.
“But we all know it’s Chelsea and they probably want to put history right after playing us twice two years ago, but it’s just great.”
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