There wasn't a huge amount to pick between the teams during most of an evenly contested 120 minutes, although after a good start by Liverpool it was Chelsea who came into the game the longer it went on, creating the better of the chances in terms of quality and quantity.

Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher made a series of saves to keep things goalless, especially in denying Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic either side of half-time.

There was also controversy surrounding the officials, as they failed to punish Naby Keita for a studs-up challenge that caught Trevoh Chalobah at waist height, as well as disallowing four goals over the course of the match. The first was by Liverpool following an already soft free-kick, but the next three were all Chelsea. Havertz was denied twice by the linesman's flag but the most controvesial was when Lukaku broke free and turned his marker before slotting in from close range, with VAR failing to intervene again, despite replays appearing to show the Belgian level.

That meant the game went all the way to penalties and, after the first 10 players on each side had found the net, it fell to the goalkeepers. Kelleher found the top corner so it was substitute Kepa Arrizabalaga who suffered the shoot-out heartache on this occasion, as his shot went over the crossbar in sudden death.

The selection

Thomas Tuchel made two changes to his starting line-up for the Carabao Cup final. Edouard Mendy retained his place in goal following the Champions League win over Lille, with Kepa Arrizabalaga on the bench after playing the previous rounds in this competition.

Ahead of him, Andreas Christensen was replaced in the back three by Trevoh Chalobah, making his first start since our last game against Liverpool at the start of January, alongside Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger.

N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic continued in midfield, flanked by captain Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso. The one change in the front three saw Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz joined by Mason Mount, who returned to the starting line-up following the injury he picked up at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Before kick-off players, officials and supporters of both clubs came together in a moment of solidarity with the people of Ukraine as the country endures it’s fourth day of conflict, with a minute’s applause sounding around Wembley after the two captains carried wreaths in the Ukrainian national colours of yellow and blue onto the pitch.

Lively opening

The Blues were disappointed not to be in the lead after just five minutes of play. Havertz charged into the middle of the pitch on the ball and fed a pass right to Azpilicueta, who delivered a low ball across goal towards Pulisic. Unfortunately the American, who had made an excellent run to get the chance, fired his shot too close to Kelleher in the Liverpool goal and Alonso couldn’t keep his half-volley down on the rebound.

The momentum of the game was constantly shifting in an entertaining opening to the first half, with both teams alternating between enjoying spells of possession and trying to catch their opponents out on the counter.

Mane threatened to get free in the Chelsea penalty area a couple of times as he showed quick feet up against Chalobah, but was closed down by a Blues defender on both occasions, before the forward headed well wide when he met Alexander-Arnold’s ball over the top, squandering the best opportunity of the first 20 minutes.

For Chelsea’s part, Mount also found himself in a promising position on the penalty spot, after Kovacic had released Havertz down the left with a fine through-ball, but our No19 had his back to goal and by the time he had swivelled to get the shot in Liverpool had recovered to charge down his effort.

Mendy to the rescue

As the game approached the half-hour mark it was Liverpool who were coming into the game more, though, as Rudiger and Thiago Silva both had to make excellent interventions in the box to snuff out dangerous openings.

However, it was our goalkeeper we had to thank for keeping the scores level as Liverpool’s threat increased. First Mendy got down low to his right to keep out a fierce drive by Keita, before showing great reflexes to somehow divert Mane’s follow-up over the crossbar from close range. It was a double-save good enough to draw gasps of disbelief from around Wembley.

Just as it looked like the momentum was shifting solidly in Liverpool’s favour, we pounced to hit them on the counter as Pulisic broke forward and played Havertz through, but the German’s attempted chip bounced just wide and the linesman then raised his flag for offside anyway.

Strong either side of the break

We finished the first half brightly, as Alonso’s crossfield ball found Havertz, who timed his pass into the path of Pulisic perfectly, but again the American fired his shot too close to Kelleher and the goalkeeper saved at his near post.

Azpilicueta was the next to go close as Liverpool finished the first half on the back foot, after Rudiger’s clever free-kick had found Alonso in space on the left and Havertz did well to bring the ball down on the edge of the box and lay it off into the path of Azpilicueta. Our skipper struck a fierce rising drive with his left foot which had Kelleher well beaten, but drifted just over the angle of post and crossbar.

The best chance yet arrived right on the stroke of half-time as Havertz and Pulisic combined again, this time resulting in the German chipping a clever pass towards Mount in the centre of the goal, but the ball was slightly behind him and he couldn’t get his volley on target, although it couldn’t have been much closer.

The Blues came out of the blocks after half-time at lightning speed too and after just a few minutes Tuchel was wondering how his team hadn’t scored at least once. First Havertz drove the ball low across the face of goal, only to see it somehow go all the way though without getting a touch, then Mount was played through with time in the box, but his placed finish beat Kelleher only to hit the inside of the right post and spin away across goal.

Tension building

It was a promising sign for the second half, but there was increasing frustration among those in Blue at our inability to make the most of our chances, along with growing concern that we would be punished if we continued to let Liverpool off the hook.

It was 10 minutes into the second that Tuchel made his first change, although it wasn’t by choice as Azpilicueta went down with an injury and was forced to leave the pitch. However, on in his place came Reece James, who had only returned to training following injury in the days leading up to this final and was making his first appearance of the year.

The openings kept coming for Chelsea, as Alonso released Mount down the left to play a one-two in the box with Havertz, but again Kelleher wasn’t troubled by the shot.

That was followed by a moment of real controversy, when Chalobah won the ball on the halfway line, only to go down in some pain after being caught in the midriff by Keita’s high studs. Unbelievably the referee waved play on, allowing Liverpool to break, and the Reds midfielder somehow avoided even conceding a free-kick, despite a challenge which could easily have received a red card had the officials spotted it.

It was shortly after that when Liverpool came the closest to getting a goal of their own, as Mendy scuffed an attempted clearance and a quick pass played in Salah. The Egyptian lifted a chipped finish over Mendy, but there was Thiago Silva charging back to slide in and produce a brilliant clearance off the line.

Finally a bit of luck went Chelsea’s way, when Liverpool’s Matip headed the ball into the net from close range following a very soft free-kick awarded against Alonso, but following a VAR review Van Dijk was shown to have been offside and interfering and the goal was ruled out.

Extra time beckons

With signs the momentum had now swung firmly in Liverpool’s favour, Tuchel opted for a double attacking change in an attempt to reimpose ourselves on the match, with strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner both being introduced with just over 15 minutes remaining of the 90.

It was Mendy who was called into action again, though, this time to deny Diaz with his feet at the near post, but shortly afterwards it was Chelsea’s turn to have a goal disallowed, when Kovacic chipped a pass in behind for Werner and Havertz headed his cross in, but Werner had been coming back from an offside position.

Liverpool responded with a triple substitution of their own and their was brief panic as Chelsea produced a series of vital blocks in a goal-mouth scramble, before another big save from Mendy following a corner. There was one last chance, as Lukaku turned Alonso’s low cross towards goal only to see Kelleher save again, so just like our Club World Cup final earlier in the month, it would take extra time to decide the destination of this trophy.

Goal disallowed yet again

Chelsea started extra time the stronger of the two teams, with Werner curling just over before fellow substitute Lukaku did well to turn his marker and beat Kelleher from close range, but again the linesman put his flag up and VAR decided not to intervene, despite replays showing it was an incredibly tight call.

That was about all there was in the way of goalmouth action in the first period, which ended in untidy fashion when Alexander-Arnold and Havertz were both booked for their part in a scuffle between the two sets of players.

Incredibly, Chelsea then had a third goal ruled out for offside, this time Havertz the man denied after he had strayed narrowly beyond the last man before being found by Alonso and Lukaku and turning a low shot past Kelleher.

Shoot-out

So despite the ball hitting the back of the net four times in total, the match ended 0-0 after 120 minutes and the Carabao Cup final would be decided by a shoot-out, with Kepa Arrizabalaga replacing Mendy late on to take his place between the posts for the penalties.

Milner scores – Places in the bottom left corner

Alonso scores – Kelleher goes the right way but it’s right in the corner

Fabinho scores – Chips down the middle

Lukaku scores – Sends Kelleher the wrong way and slots to the right

Van Dijk scores – Kepa guesses right but the ball flies above him

Havertz scores – Takes his time and calmly places in the bottom corner

Alexander-Arnold scores – Kepa goes the right way again by there’s too much power

James scores – To the left just out of the goalkeeper’s reach

Salah scores – High into the top corner

Jorginho scores – Slides it into the corner in trademark style

Jota scores – low down the middle

Rudiger scores – High and central behind the dive of Kelleher

Origi scores – Placed straight down the middle

Kante scores – Sends Kelleher the wrong way and goes left

Robertson scores – Low to his left

Werner scores – Right in the bottom left corner just beyond Kelleher’s reach

Elliott scores – High to the left

Thiago Silva scores – High to the left again

Konate scores – Kepa gets a hand to it to his left but can’t keep it out

Chalobah scores – High down the middle

Kelleher scores – In the top left corner

Kepa misses – Over the crossbar

What's next?

Chelsea are in cup action again in midweek, this time for the FA Cup fifth round when we travel to Championship side Luton Town on Wednesday evening, with kick-off at 7.15pm. The Premier League then returns next Saturday with another away trip, at Burnley at 3pm.

Chelsea (3-4-3): Mendy (Kepa 120); Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Rudiger; Azpilicueta (c) (James 55), Kante, Kovacic (Jorginho 106), Alonso; Pulisic (Werner 73), Havertz, Mount (Lukaku 73)Unused subs: Sarr, Loftus-Cheek, Saul, Hudson-OdoiBooked: Kovacic 89, Kante 99, Havertz 105+1

Liverpool (4-3-3): Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Matip (Konate 91), Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson (c) (Elliott 80), Fabinho, Keita (Milner 80); Salah, Mane (Jota 80), Diaz (Origi 97)Unused subs: Alisson, Tsimikas, Oxlade-Chamberlain, MinaminoBooked: Alexander-Arnold 105+1

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Crowd: 85,512