Jürgen Klopp has scripted many a story with a happy ending in his seven seasons at Liverpool. Less than five months on, what he thought was a horror film – what he called one of the worst moments of his footballing life – turned into “a proper fairytale.”
The fear was that Harvey Elliott’s career was over before it had really begun, but here he returned in style, the 18-year-old scoring 18 minutes into his comeback. The dislocated ankle he sustained at Leeds 147 days earlier, when he was taken off on a stretcher and rushed to hospital, was consigned to history amid the euphoria of his first goal for Liverpool.
The ugliest of goals would still have made it a beautiful moment. Instead, it was a strike to illustrate his promise, Elliott taking a touch to control Andy Robertson’s cross and swivelling to dispatch a half‑volley. “He is still an incredible footballer,” Klopp said.
Elliott’s introduction came in a double change that brought a fresh start and a new beginning. It was a moot point if the rapturous reception Anfield afforded Luis Díaz and Elliott was attributable more to the January buy or the emerging talent. Either way, the majority present soon had reasons to celebrate both. This was a welcome glimpse into Liverpool’s future.
The most expensive attacker in their history endeared himself to Klopp in the best way possible; not even by scoring as much as by doing his best Roberto Firmino impression, 10 minutes into his debut. He capitalised on a moment of confusion in the Cardiff defence, robbed a dozing Perry Ng and set up Takumi Minamino for Liverpool’s second goal.
“Incredible high press,” beamed Klopp, with his famous fondness for gegenpressing. “I love it.”
His expression changed when he saw his £50m signing writhing in pain. “A scary moment,” he said, before realising the supersized centre-back Aden Flint was inadvertently responsible. “I saw the big fellow of Cardiff standing on his knee,” he added. “He has a bruise and we all said: ‘Welcome to England.’ Now he has his first assist and his first scar.”
The substitutes took the spotlight but, as Klopp’s side booked a date with Norwich and reached the fifth round for just the second time in his reign, Liverpool had evidence of their manager’s forward planning even before Diaz’s entrance. The previous attacker they recruited with Porto on his CV had already underlined his catalytic qualities.
Diogo Jota cushioned Liverpool’s passage into the last 16 just as he propelled them into the Carabao Cup final. He has ensured they navigated a month without Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané while progressing in the knockout competitions.
“In these games you need an opener,” Klopp reflected, and Jota pierced Cardiff’s admirable resistance, showing again that he has the spring to make him a menace. He outjumped Mark McGuinness, a giant defender who is six inches taller than him, to glance in a header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free kick. It was Jota’s 15th goal of the season and Alexander-Arnold’s 15th assist.
“He jumps high, he has timing and he is a very skilled boy,” Klopp said. “He has a nose for these situations.” Jota’s game is defined by elusiveness and irrepressibility in the penalty box; when he hooked a volley wide from a corner, he had contrived to be unmarked again.
He had been Liverpool’s liveliest individual in a first half when they mustered a solitary shot on target.
While Klopp has been accused of taking the FA Cup insufficiently seriously in previous years, this time the manager press-ganging youngsters into service in a makeshift side was Steve Morison. Injuries and January sales meant the teenagers Oliver Denham and Eli King, handed the first starts of their careers at Anfield, had daunting assignments.
Denham was befuddled by a deft turn from Jota, who stung Dillon Phillips’s palms with his shot, but excelled thereafter. Liverpool had 82% of the possession in the first half but their wastefulness was summed up when Alexander-Arnold’s volley went out for a throw. Naby Keïta was responsible for a couple of particularly wayward efforts while Curtis Jones skied a shot over.
A “proud but frustrated” Morison was left ruing the manner of Cardiff’s eventual defeat. “Three poor goals from our point of view,” he said.
He was frustrated that Mark Harris, a roving presence in attack, was denied a first-half penalty when Ibrahima Konaté nudged him in the back and in the box. But, with commendable honesty, he supported the referee Andy Madley’s decision to only book Caoimhin Kelleher when, some 45 yards from goal, he scythed down Harris. “I don’t think it was a sending off,” he said. “There were too many players around.”
That incident came when the game was still goalless. It was over by the time Cardiff struck. The 19-year-old substitute Ruben Colwill got the consolation goal Morison’s spirited side deserved, but, on an afternoon of teenage scorers, Elliott’s strike had more resonance.
