Two Goals From Diogo Jota Silence Emirates, Take Liverpool To Wembley

Diogo Jota (Twitter @lfc)

JAKARTA - Diogo Jota publicly silenced the Emirates Stadium in London on Thursday local time. Two goals from the Portuguese striker led Liverpool to a 2-0 win over Arsenal in the second leg of the English League Cup semi-final.

Quoted from Antara, Friday, Jota's two goals simultaneously led Liverpool to book a ticket to Wembley after the Reds won 2-0 on aggregate. In the final, Jurgen Klopp's men will face Chelsea on February 27.

Liverpool performed like Arsenal at Anfield last week, tending to be under more pressure from the hosts, but the difference is that the Reds are able to present a sharper attack.

𝐖𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/hWbNvaEXe4

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 20, 2022

A goalless draw last week became a positive injection for the spirit of Mikel Arteta's team, who appeared to attack at the start of the match and got a free kick opportunity not far from the penalty box six minutes into the game.

Alexandre Lacazette who became the executioner managed to beat goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher with a free kick execution, unfortunately the ball ended up hitting the crossbar.

Liverpool, who were slowly trying to get out of the pressure, managed to get the ball into the home net through Joel Matip in the 13th minute, unfortunately he was already in an offside position when he deflected Fabinho's header.

Six minutes later, Liverpool really took the lead when Jota rounded Takehiro Tomiyasu after picking up a pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold before firing a relative shot but it went into goal as goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale's line of sight was blocked by Kieran Tierney and Ben White.

Since that goal, Liverpool have been relatively better at keeping up with the hosts' possession and were able to maintain a 1-0 lead until half-time.

After the break, Arsenal were increasingly eager to create momentum and came close to equalizing when Lacazette picked up Albert Lokonga's cross, but Virgil van Dijk kept his guard down and could not let go of an accurate finish.

At a different end, young Liverpool talent Kaide Gordon should have doubled the visitors' lead two minutes later when he picked up Jota's cross but he lacked composure and his shot bounced over the bar.

Ibrahima Konate, who only came on early in the second half for Joel Matip, had Liverpool's next chance in a corner from a corner from Alexander-Arnold's cross, but his header hit the post.

Arsenal's ambition to attack was not matched by the discipline of their defense so that in the 77th minute, Jota escaped control receiving Alexander-Arnold's pass and poked the ball over Ramsdale's body.

The goal was initially greeted with offside signs by the linesman, but after VAR Gabriel Magalhaes stepped in to see Jota onside and Liverpool actually doubled their lead over Arsenal.

Like at Anfield, Arsenal also had to finish the game with just ten men because Thomas Partey was sent off by referee Martin Atkinson in the 90th minute after receiving a second yellow card.

The yellow card came about three minutes away from Partey's first yellow card and the Ghanaian midfielder has only played for about 15 minutes since coming on for Emile Smith-Rowe.