Winners and Losers in Chelsea XI after embarrassing Carabao Cup Final loss

Liverpool defeated Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday to claim their 10th Carabao Cup trophy. In doing so, the Blues have made an unwanted record by becoming the first team to lose six straight domestic finals.

Defeat happens in football all the time, but the manner of this loss in extra time is embarrassing. With Liverpool missing key men in forward areas and few other squad players, the Liverpool team is there for the taking by Chelsea.

The first 90 minutes of football in the final were a frenzy and competitive encounter. However, in extra time, only one team — Liverpool — was trying to win the game. This young Chelsea team has missed a huge opportunity in an otherwise underwhelming season. In the aftermath of the defeat, we take a look at the standout Blues and those who let the team down.

Winners

Djordje  Petrovic

Petrovic justified his selection ahead of the returning Robert Sanchez with a competent display at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final. He produced outstanding saves to deny Luis Diaz, Jayden Danns, and Harvey Elliott. The goalkeeper will undoubtedly be heartbroken to concede in the final two minutes of extra time.

Malo Gusto

Although he was a bit nervy at the start of the game, he later grew into the game. Just like the excellent display against the tricky Jeremy Doku at the Etihad, Gusto put in a strong performance against the energetic and hardworking Lius Diaz — the main outlet of Liverpool's attack.

Cole Palmer

The star player of this Chelsea team's attack was a bit quiet in the first part of the game. His tame finish in the 20th minute could have given CFC an early lead. However, he later grew into the game and set up Conor Gallagher with two glorious chances that were not taken. Overall, his movement troubled Liverpool's backline.

Losers

Conor Gallagher

The always-hardworking Conor Gallagher was unusually quiet at the start of the game. His only meaningful contribution in the first half of normal time was the chance created for Raheem Sterling, which the latter failed to take. Gallagher missed three glorious chances to put Chels' in control of the game. The one-on-one missed when put through on goal by Palmer in the closing stages of normal play will hunt the Englishman for a long time.

Raheem Sterling

In a game of this magnitude, where you expect the big guys to lead by example, the most experienced player in the forward line for the Blues was anonymous almost throughout the game. Apart from his VAR disallowed goal in the  32nd minute of the game, he was largely ineffective in the game, before being hauled off for Christopher Nkunku in the 67th minute.

Mykhailo Mudryk

Mudryk was brought on for Nicolas Jackson to stretch the Liverpool backline with his pace, but he never quite grew into the game. He was anonymous during his time on the pitch and failed to attack the ball from the Liverpool corner, which resulted in Liverpool’s goal after VVD lost Axel Disasi. The reactions of his fellow players after the goal say a lot about Mudryk's performance. He has not done himself any favours in this game, and the £100k-a-week Ukrainian could be sent out on loan next season.