Liverpool and Arsenal treated Anfield to a Carabao Cup thriller. But in the end, it was Ireland Under-21 goalkeeper Caoimhin Keller who proved to be the Liverpool hero in the penalty shootout.
The Cork native saved Dani Ceballos' effort as the home side won 5-4 in the shoot-out.
Kelleher had started in goal for the second successive Carabao Cup game for Liverpool. And on the opposite side, the oft-frozen out (by Unai Emery at least!) Mesut Ozil was thawed out and put him back into the fray for Arsenal.
Tonight's #CarabaoCup line-up to face @Arsenal... #LIVARS https://t.co/e2dcIcBFHu
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 30, 2019
Our team news for tonight's game at Anfield...
@HectorBellerin captains the side
@MesutOzil1088 starts
@RobHolding95 partners @MustafiOfficial
@LTorreira34 also named in starting XI— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 30, 2019
"Not-So-Normal" Normal Time
The two sides shared 10 goals in a not-so-normal normal time encounter. And many of the goals were of outstanding quality - not that the defending could be described as such!
Liverpool took the lead on six minutes after a Shkodran Mustafi own goal. But Arsenal struck three times in the next thirty minutes to turn game around.
First Lucas Torreira finished from close range after Kelleher had parried Ainsley Maitland-Niles' effort back into his path.
Gabriel Martinelli then extended his cup-competition goal streak with goals on 26 and 36 minutes.
However, Harvey Elliott won a penalty for Liverpool which James Milner converted two minutes before the break.
Arsenal then pushed further ahead when Maitland-Niles finished off a fine flick-back from Ozil. Liverpool kept in close touch however as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fired in against his former club.
Divock Origi then levelled, before Joe Willock curled in a long-range pearler beyond Kelleher to restore Arsenal's lead.
However, Origi's acrobatic finish on 94 minutes saw Liverpool make it 5-5 and force penalties.
Most of the penalties were astutely struck. But Kelleher made the vital save to stop Ceballos' effort, before Curtis Jones' converted the winning Liverpool penalty to send the Reds into the fifth round.
And Elsewhere...
Manchester United beat Chelsea 2-1 in their own fourth-round tie at Stamford Bridge.
Marcus Rashford scored twice for the visitors - once from the spot and another from a free-kick.
Michy Batshuayi netted Chelsea's goal in between those Rashford goals.
Aston Villa won the other match tonight as the Birmingham side edged Wolves 2-1 at home.
Anwar El Ghazi and Ahmed Elmohamady got the crucial goals for Villa, while Patrick Curtone scored for the away side.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
