Andoni Iraola was pleased to see Liverpool rewarded for a ‘very big effort’ as they beat Chelsea on penalties in the Carabao Cup.
The sides drew 1-1 at Anfield on Wednesday night, with Morgan Rogers and Cody Gakpo scoring from the spot before half-time.
Liverpool went on to win the shootout 6-5, booking their place in the quarter-finals, where they will host AFC Bournemouth.
Read Iraola’s post-match verdict below.
On being delighted to win on penalties…
Yeah, at the end in the cup competitions what matters is that you are in the next round and you are in the draw. Lucky for us finishing the right side of the penalty shootout. I finish pleased because the players have done a very big effort today and at least we get the reward of being in the quarter-finals.
On drawing his former team Bournemouth in the next round…
Honestly, I was talking before the draw and I said, ‘The only team I don’t want is Bournemouth…’ For me, it’s special. They know me very well, they are playing very well lately, in a good moment. But it is what it is. We haven’t been very lucky with the draws – we have played Spurs and Chelsea already and now Bournemouth. That is going to be obviously special for me. But we have to earn the right to be in the semi-finals and I hope we can do it here at home again.
On a ‘togetherness’ building in the squad and if he feels it…
I feel it and I’m very happy to feel it because I think it’s very important. We need to feel what we are feeling now, the players are feeling. They are feeling the support of the ones in the stands and I think when we are all together, we create better atmospheres. Even starting losing, there was ‘Let’s go, come on.’ A lot of the players have given us very good help and now it’s the third game at home where we finish with good feelings. And we have another big one on Sunday and let’s try to finish this four in a row that we had at home in the best way.
On how he rotated the squad and used the bench on the night…
A little bit of everything. When you do the line-ups and the squads, you are not thinking, ‘In case it goes to penalties, I will leave the ones who shoot the penalties for the end.’ No, you are trying to balance the team. We are changing a lot of the players because we need to change. We did seven changes today but even in the Champions League, which are very important games, we are doing always four or five changes. Obviously when I did the last subs – when I put Alexis [Mac Allister] and Alex [Isak] especially – it starts to be in your head, ‘OK, in case of need, they also are the best ones probably you can put.’
On Trey Nyoni’s performance…
I think he has done very well. Really well. It’s good for the young players especially to live these experiences in cup competitions, where if you lose you are out. We have been losing and then the draw. Then they haven’t been there in the penalty shootout but they lived the feelings. They played under pressure against a very good team. And Trey has finished physically in a good place, so well done, yes.
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