Liverpool 1 - 1 Chelsea (PENS 6-5)

Xabi Alonso left Anfield disappointed after his former club Liverpool got the better of Chelsea in a brilliant penalty shootout, with the decider missed by Wesley Fofana.

A cagey first half was a tale of two penalties, with Moises Caicedo brought down inside the box which saw Morgan Rogers open the scoring after 40 minutes in the absence of Cole Palmer.

But three minutes later, Liverpool struck back via the same means.

A woeful handball from Wesley Fofana following a corner saw Cody Gakpo step up to level the scoring.

Liverpool had the better of the chances throughout the second half, bringing on all of their £100million men in the form of Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola, and Alexander Isak, but they still couldn't find a winner as the game went to penalties.

It looked as though it was over when Valentin Barco struck the post with Chelsea's fourth penalty kick, only for Kostas Tsimikas to sky the ball high over the crossbar to send the game to a sudden death.

Chelsea then missed their chance to win the shootout at 5-5 when Emanuel Emegha was denied by Giorgi Mamardashvili, after Alexander Isak was kept out by Mike Penders moments prior.

It was Wesley Fofana who missed the eventual deciding penalty, with the Reds winning it 6-5 on penalties in the end.

MIKE PENDERS - 8

There wasn't a lot he could do to stop a Cody Gakpo equaliser that found the bottom left corner, and he made two brilliant stops, one from point blank range to deny Ronaldo Araujo, and another to keep Bradley Barcola out with half an hour to go.

Confident with the ball at his feet, and made a good stop to deny Alexander Isak to see the Blues win the shootout.

JOSH ACHEAMPONG - 6

You would imagine Josh Acheampong is one of those better equipped than most to deal with former Cobham wonderkid Rio Ngumoha, and he did so relatively well despite being booked for a foul on him.

Ngumoha is a talent that would cause anyone problems, and he did for Acheampong, who could have also offered more going forwards but was decent in defence.

WESLEY FOFANA - 2

Just two minutes and twelve seconds, that's all it took for Wesley Fofana to give away a penalty for handball moments after Chelsea had scored one of their own, and it was a really silly handball to give away too.

Didn't improve massively after that either really, and Chelsea fans will be disappointed to see Maxence Lacroix hobble off because it means Fofana will probably start against Man Utd next time round.

His deciding penalty, skied over the crossbar, put the cherry on the cake for the Frenchman in a disasterclass of a performance.

MAXENCE LACROIX - 6

Chelsea fans and Xabi Alonso would have been very disappointed to see Lacroix replaced before half time with what looked like a hamstring injury, as he limped off at Anfield.

He was decent up until he hobbled off, making plenty of clearances and being strong in the air in particular against a youthful Liverpool front line.

MALO GUSTO - 3

Played a good pass into Caicedo to win the first penalty of the game, but was pretty pathetic aside from that.

A second-half dive could have cost Chelsea, which saw him embarrassingly take off his own boot in protests for a foul and then hooked for Marco Palestra.

All around underwhelming performance from someone who hasn't played many minutes under Alonso this season.

MOISES CAICEDO - 6

Unsurprisingly, the best of Chelsea's midfielders, and formed a decent base to the Blues midfield alongside Romeo Lavia, as well as winning the penalty for the opening goal.

He was excellent in keeping possession for the Blues, even if he did so for a little too long at times, and was important in beating the LFC press.

ROMEO LAVIA - 5

One thing about Romeo Lavia is that he will always be ready to put in a performance against Liverpool.

There were a few too many sideways passes, with Chelsea needing him to advance the ball a bit more in the first half given that they played with a midfield three, and he was booked for a silly foul on Ngumoha.

JORDAN HENDERSON - 5

Sections of Anfield booed Jordan Henderson's every touch, who looked like he wanted to take Morgan Rogers' penalty against his own former club.

He was a leader in the side, and steady in midfield, but didn't offer anything exceptional on another Anfield return.

Usually, that would be okay, but the Blues needed more creativity from him in the middle of the park as the most advanced of the Blues' midfield trio.

PEDRO NETO - 5

Neto started over Estevao who has history against Liverpool, which may not have been the right decision from Xabi Alonso.

He didn't get an awful lot of support from Acheampong behind him, but needed to do more going forwards with the ball at his feet in a pretty toothless Chelsea front line.

MORGAN ROGERS - 6

Scored the opener from the penalty spot, and it was expertly taken in Cole Palmer's absence to bury the ball in the top right corner.

But aside from that, he didn't seem like the Morgan Rogers we have got used to seeing this season without Joao Pedro and his pal Palmer up there with him.

He did improve as the game went on in terms of his creativity and physicality, and should have had an assist if not for the paws of Mamardashvili in the Liverpool goal, who denied substitute Marco Palestra.

DANNY WELBECK - 3

Struggled to get into the game at all in the first half, and didn't offer much in terms of pressing against a fairly comfortable Liverpool defence for the most part.

Hooked for Emanuel Emegha who made his full Chelsea debut after 67 minutes, having not made much impact at all.

SUBS:

LEVI COLWILL (MAXENCE LACROIX, 45) - 7

Was utterly solid after coming on for the injured Lacroix, and good at playing out from the back too.

Scored a cracking penalty in the shootout too.

EMANUEL EMEGHA (DANNY WELBECK, 67) - 4

All eyes were on Emegha making his long-awaited Chelsea debut in the absence of Joao Pedro, but he wasn't overly impactful after replacing Danny Welbeck.

Displayed a few decent touches, but nothing that will fill Chelsea fans with much hope, though a half-hour cameo away at Anfield for your debut, with the game level can't be easy.

Will be utterly disappointed to have missed what could have been the winning penalty at Anfield.

VALENTIN BARCO (MOISES CAICEDO, 67) - 5

It's credit to him that Chelsea were not significantly worse with him on the pitch instead of Moises Caicedo, as he always remained an option for his teammates and defended with all his might.

Missed his spot kick.

MARCO PALESTRA (MALO GUSTO, 67) - 5

Was almost instantly more impressive than Malo Gusto when he came close to giving his side the lead with a low strike near the end of the game.