Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was full of praise for goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher following his sublime performance against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final yesterday.
The Merseyside giants went into the Cup final in the worst possible state with several key players injured. The likes of Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez were missing.
Despite this, they stood up to the occasion against the Blues and Kelleher had a big role to play between the sticks, making 9 saves. He denied Cole Palmer with a sensational block from point-blank range.
There was another moment where Conor Gallagher was clear through on goal, but Kelleher produced another heroic save, rushing off his line to block the midfielder’s shot. Gallagher was favourite to score.
Kelleher stepped up in the injury absence of Alisson. Speaking to Sky Sports (h/t BBC Sport), Van Dijk said that he is world class, he was quoted as saying: “He’s world class, and he stepped up again today. He’s a good keeper, what we need at a club like Liverpool.”
A lot of questions were raised over how Liverpool would cope with Alisson’s injury setback, but Kelleher has shown that he is more than capable of succeeding the Brazilian as the no.1 in the long term.
The Irishman had an impressive 75 touches with 37 passes completed yesterday. His ball-playing ability has improved over the years and he should have a big role to play for the next 5 weeks at least.
Alisson has been ruled out until the end of March. In this period, Liverpool will be playing 7 games in 3 competitions. They have a tough assignment against Manchester City in the league at Anfield.
Manager Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that some of the injured players are available in time for the City game which could be a huge decider in the Premier League title race in which Arsenal are also involved.
