Liverpool 2-2 Middlesbrough (AET, 14-13 pens): Match Report.

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Liverpool players celebrate after finally securing their passage into the last-16 of the Capital One Cup with an incredible 14-13 victory over Middlesbrough on penalties

They came expecting to see something run-of-the-mill but left, bewildered, having witnessed something out of the ordinary.

Anfield is no stranger to hosting dramatic occasions but, even measured against some of those riotous evenings of the past, this was remarkable. In years to come, they will recall Liverpool against Middlesbrough and the night of 30 penalties.
Yes, you read that correctly. Liverpool find themselves in the Capital One Cup’s fourth round after beating Middlesbrough 14-13 in a shootout after the previous 120 minutes had saw the two teams locked together at 2-2.
Those bare statistics, though, do not do justice to how this contest ebbed and flowed and the stories it produced, from 17-year-old Jordan Rossiter marking his Liverpool debut with a goal from 35 yards to Middlesbrough’s Patrick Bamford, holding his nerve in added time of extra time.


All 22 players on the pitch at the final whistle took a kick in the shootout (goalkeepers included), with some stepping up twice. Heartbreakingly for Middlesbrough, who ran themselves to a stanstill, Albert Adomah became the fall guy, firing wide into The Kop after Suso gave Liverpool match point.
'It was a real good night for us,’ said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. ‘I was pleased to get through in that experience. It was great for our young players. It’s good to win, no matter how you win. They were real good quality penalties and I’m pleased to get into the next round.’
He will also be relieved. While supporters will have gone home struggling to comprehend the events that had unfolded in front of them, Rodgers will have left Anfield wondering when his side are going to stop giving away cheap goals.



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