© EuroFootball.com
After the astonishingly finished quarter-final match of the English League Cup on Wednesday, in which "Arsenal" crushed "Liverpool" 6-3 away, the strategists of both teams were shocked and confused after the match. One in joy, the other in despair. In this match, both teams allowed more appearances for substitute footballers or representatives of youth teams.
The coach of "Arsenal" Arsene Wenger said he always believed in his young footballers, but admitted that he never even thought they could put on such a show in Liverpool.
”My young players are talented and work hard in training with more experienced players. I knew we could win and reach the semi-finals, but I never expected we would score six goals,” he said.
In the mentioned match, everyone was amazed by Julio Baptista, who arrived at "Arsenal" last summer from Real Madrid in exchange for Jose Antonio Reyes. Having been in the shadows until then, J.Baptista sent 4 goals into the "Liverpool" net and loudly reminded everyone of himself. In addition, the Brazilian also missed a penalty kick.
Wenger praised him: "I always believed in Julio and hoped he would show himself. He is a very strong guy psychologically and works great on the field for the sake of the team."
Meanwhile, the coach of "Liverpool", the Spaniard Rafael Benitez, admitted for the second time in three days that the young players and senior players did not find a common language on the pitch, apologized to the fans, and looked ahead.
“We tried to play better, but we kept letting in one goal after another and could not change anything. I apologize to the fans. "Arsenal" took advantage of six out of the abundance of their opportunities. The senior players and youth of the team did not find a common language on the field. We can talk about tactics and players, but first of all, you need to score goals and do it in every match," the Spaniard said.
However, Benitez did not dramatize this failure too much and tried to look ahead: ”It was a bad match, and we will try to forget it. But over the years of training, you learn to overcome such failures and continue to fight. We will now start thinking about the Champions League and the Premier League."
However, these were not the only bad news for the "Liverpool" team. In the match against "Arsenal," Mark Gonzalez suffered an injury after 5 minutes, and his replacement, Luis Garcia, got injured at the end of the match. Benitez's forecasts were not reassuring: "M. Gonzalez and L. Garcia may drop out of the lineup for a long time."
