Moisés Caicedo lit up Stamford Bridge with a stunning first-half strike before teenage star Estêvão snatched a stoppage-time winner, as the blues outclassed Liverpool 2-1 to hand the Reds back-to-back Premier League defeats at the death, Softfootball reports.
Liverpool arrived in London on the back of a disappointing 1-0 midweek defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League, and their demoralised confidence was quickly exposed. It was Caicedo, a player Liverpool once pursued so aggressively, who delivered the opening blow. Afforded far too much space on the edge of the box, the Ecuadorian midfielder unleashed an unstoppable thunderbolt from 25 yards that flew into the top corner and left the away end was left stunned.
Arne Slot’s men did have chances to hit back. Cody Gakpo teed up Dominik Szoboszlai for what looked a certain equaliser, only for Benoît Badiashile to throw his body in front. Later, Milos Kerkez somehow picked out Marc Cucurella instead of Mo Salah inside the six-yard box, wasting another golden opportunity. Chelsea almost doubled their lead before halftime through Alejandro Garnacho, who struck the outside of the post.
Slot rolled the dice at the break by introducing Florian Wirtz, and Liverpool finally clawed their way back just after the hour mark. Szoboszlai’s delivery was brought down by Alexander Isak, and Gakpo pounced to hammer in the leveller.
But even after losing both starting centre-backs to injury, Chelsea fresh off a 1-0 Champions League win against Benfica in midweek refused to backdown. The hosts kept pushing, with Giorgi Mamardashvili saving from Jamie Gittens, Caicedo, and Estêvão late on. Deep into stoppage time, Cucurella pushed forward and delivered a low cross that Estêvão converted at the far post, stealing the maximum points for the Blues.
This was a hard fought victory for Chelsea who have been struggling in the Premier League in the last few weeks, Chelsea via its official X handle, posted the full time reaction video showing how much this victory means to its players and fans all around the world, watch the video below;
For Liverpool, it was another gut punch after their recent stoppage-time league defeat, compounded by their European setback in Turkey. For Chelsea, it was a night defined by Caicedo’s wonderstrike a goal that will live long in Stamford Bridge memory and capped by the rise of Estêvão on the biggest stage.
