THE first silverware of the English football season is up for grabs this weekend, as Liverpool and their soon-to-be-departing manager Jurgen Klopp head to London’s Wembley Stadium to face a rejuvenated Chelsea that seem to be finding their groove at just the right time.

The Carabao Cup final on Sunday (Feb 25), with the kick-off at 11 pm Singapore time, is Liverpool’s chance to claim the first of four potential trophies; they’re currently top of the English Premier League (EPL) and still in the hunt for the FA Cup and the Europa Cup.

Long farewell

Klopp stunned the football world four weeks ago by announcing he would leave the club at the end of the season. 

Since then, every match has taken on a greater significance for Liverpool and their global fan base as they pay tribute to the 56-year-old German who has delivered a boatload of trophies in his nine years in charge.

It’s almost like a long goodbye tour of sorts, but Klopp is desperate to shift as much of the attention away from him and keep the focus on his players.

He doesn’t have many of his stars available for the showdown with Chelsea, however, with nearly a dozen of them in the treatroom room for one reason or another.

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The Reds’ injury crisis is so worrying that Klopp insists he can only take things “day by day” as he tries to keep spirits high at Anfield.

“There’s one phrase which stands – as long as we have 11 players, we will go for it. That’s all I can promise,” he declared on Wednesday night, hours after he watched his patched-up side pummel Luton Town 4-1 in the EPL.

Klopp was still able to field a strong team that included the likes of Virgil Van Dijk, Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott, all of whom found the net against the hapless Hatters.

The Liverpool bench had five teenagers, many of whom are part of the next generation of players whom Klopp will soon hand over to his successor.

Every Liverpool fan will be keeping their fingers and toes crossed that Mohamed Salah – scorer of 19 goals this season – will somehow make the squad this Sunday. 

The 31-year-old Egyptian striker only returned to club action last week against Brentford after a month on the sidelines due to a hamstring problem, but he could be a doubt for Wembley after feeling some fatigue in the same area at the end of the match.

The expert motivator that he is, Klopp tried to put a positive spin on the situation by saying: “I want us to ignore who is missing. If you don’t limit yourself with bad thoughts, you can fly.”

Blues seek revenge

After suffering a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool just three weeks ago at Anfield, Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea head to Wembley for this rematch hoping to end a run of poor results in cup finals against these very opponents.

The Blues lost both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup finals to Liverpool in 2022, each time after a penalty shootout following a goalless draw at the end of extra time.

Chelsea’s squad, assembled at a cost of nearly £1 billion (S$1.7 billion), has flattered to deceive for much of this season and the team currently languish in mid-table in the league.

But they have picked up some steam in the last fortnight. They were impressive in holding EPL champions Manchester City to a 1-1 draw last weekend, which came after securing back-to-back away wins over Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

Pochettino has had a full week to prepare for the trip to Wembley, and he knows he will have no better chance of winning his first trophy in England after enduring a barren spell with Tottenham Hotspur several years ago.

The 51-year-old Argentine manager has injury problems of his own, with long-term absentees such as Reece James and Romeo Lavia still out of action, while the veteran Thiago Silva could also be unavailable.

Chelsea fans will be counting on the likes of Raheem Sterling, Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and the fit-again Christopher Nkunku to unlock Liverpool’s porous backline.

It was Sterling who scored for Chelsea against his former club Manchester City and he is once again the man whom Pochettino will be relying on for goals.

“We need to feel that it is possible to beat Liverpool,” said Pochettino earlier this week. “We are going to pay the second-best team in the world (after Manchester City), and belief is the most important thing.”