Alexander Isak, a scourge of Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final last season, opened his account in red as Arne Slot’s side advanced into round four courtesy of another late show.
It was a far from comfortable night for the Premier League leaders, however, with Southampton’s adventure, Hugo Ekitiké’s foolish red card and a potentially serious injury to the debutant Giovanni Leoni ensuring victory came at a price.
Liverpool needed an 85th-minute winner from Ekitiké to avoid a penalty shootout against Will Still’s tenacious side and launch their quest to reach a fourth League Cup final in five seasons. It was Liverpool’s sixth late winner in a seven-game winning sequence but their celebrations were tainted by Ekitiké receiving a second yellow card for removing his shirt. He will miss the visit to Crystal Palace on Saturday as a consequence of a dismissal for which Slot made no excuses.
“The first one [for dissent] was already needless and, to a certain extent, stupid, as you have got to control your emotions,” the Liverpool head coach said. “With the second one I told him that if you score in the Champions League final in the 87th minute after outplaying three players and hitting it in the top corner … I can maybe understand he is like: ‘This is all about me.’ But I’m old-fashioned. If I scored a goal like this I’d have walked up to Federico Chiesa and said: ‘This goal is all about you, this is not about me.’ Needless, not smart, you call it stupid, I called it stupid right away as well.”
