Liverpool Captain Virgil van Dijk praised goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after his sublime performance against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final yesterday.
The Merseyside giants went into the Cup final in the worst possible shape with several key players injured. People like Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed SalahDiogo Jota and Darwin Núñez were missing.
Despite this, they rose to the occasion against the Blues and Kelleher had an important role to play between the sticks, making 9 saves. He denied Cole Palmer with a sensational point-blank block.
There was another moment when Conor Gallagher was clearly through on goal, but Kelleher made another heroic save, running off his line to block the midfielder's shot. Gallagher was the favorite to score.
Kelleher stepped up in the absence of Alisson due to injury. Speaking to Sky Sports (h/t BBC sport), Van Dijk said he is world class, he was quoted as saying: “He is world class and today he took a step forward again. He is a good goalkeeper, which we need at a club like Liverpool..”
Many questions were raised about how Liverpool would deal with Alisson's injury, but Kelleher has shown that he is more than capable of succeeding the Brazilian as long-term number one.
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 at least the next five weeks.
Alisson is ruled out until the end of March. In this period, Liverpool will play 7 games in 3 competitions. They have a tough task against city of manchester in the league at Anfield.
Manager Jurgen Klopp We hope that some of the injured players will be available in time for the game against City, which could be decisive in the first division title race in which Arsenal are also involved.
