Don’t sleep on Caoimhin Kelleher’s final penalty save vs Derby because it was just superb

Caoimhin Kelleher was once again Liverpool’s hero in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.

It’s becoming something of an annual routine seeing the Reds’ back-up goalkeeper produce the goods in penalty shootouts, coming to his team’s aid when they look to be teetering on the edge of elimination each and every time.

It has, after all, been less than a year since Kelleher performed his spot-kick heroics on the biggest stage of all in the Carabao Cup, guiding the Reds to the trophy by scoring in a truly wild shootout at Wembley Stadium.

How did Kelleher save the day?

The Irishman wasn’t required to make a save on that particular occasion, but his stoicism between the sticks nevertheless saw him become the Liverpool shot-stopper with the most shootout victories in the club’s history.

And yes, that’s right, it means Kelleher added to his record when he once again leapt into action for the Merseyside club upon their third-round clash with Derby County going the distance this week.

Virgil van Dijk quiz: 20 questions on the Liverpool star to prove you’re an expert

With Jurgen Klopp fielding a youthful Reds side and their League One opponents visibly putting the handbrake on, an unmemorable 90 minutes of action at Anfield limped over the line at 0-0.

And with the Carabao Cup not one to drag its players through another 30 minutes of drama amidst such a brutal schedule, the match progressed to what has become Kelleher’s domain over the last few years: penalties.

Buy your Jurgen Klopp t-shirt from the GMS Shop

© Provided by Give Me Sport Buy a Klopp t-shirt. Kelleher’s best performance to date?

However, for all the shootout magic that Kelleher has produced in his previous outings for the Reds, we’re inclined to think that his Derby display took the biscuit.

That’s because the 23-year-old saved no less than three of the five spot-kicks that were fired his way, thwarting Conor Hourihane, Craig Forsyth and Lewis Dobbin with a fabulous hat-trick of stops.

They were badly needed, too, because misses from Stefan Bajcetic and Roberto Firmino meant that Liverpool could easily have been sent home packing had it not been for Kelleher’s antics.

And although any and every penalty save from a goalkeeper is always deserving of praise, we need to talk about exactly how brilliant Kelleher’s stop to deny Dobbin truly was.

© Provided by Give Me Sport Soccer Football – Carabao Cup Third Round – Liverpool v Derby County – Anfield, Liverpool, Britain – November 9, 2022 Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher makes a save in the penalty shoot-out REUTERS/Carl Recine EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details. Don’t sleep on Kelleher’s third save

A vital save that set up Harvey Elliott to stroke home the winning spot-kick, Kelleher showed excellent athleticism to get his arm to Dobbin’s robust strike and duly batted it around the post.

It looked like a pretty solid save from the initial wide angle, but it is when the broadcast started showing the instant replays that the magnificence of Kelleher’s save could really be appreciated in all its glory.

It’s no wonder, therefore, that a good number of Liverpool fans starting praising the save from Dobbin in particular just as the masses were applauding his overall shootout heroics.

So if you still haven’t got your fix of Kelleher bailing out the Reds, then be sure to check out all the angles of his third and final stop because we need to make sure it gets the credit that it deserves:

Video: Every angle of Kelleher’s third save (skip to 0:25) Fan reaction © Provided by Give Me Sport Fans praise Kelleher’s third save on Twitter. © Provided by Give Me Sport Fans thought Kelleher’s third save was excellent. © Provided by Give Me Sport Kelleher’s third save is heralded on social media. An underrated save

Now try telling us that’s an average save when you see the replay.

It’s in those replay shots that you really get to see just how much Kelleher had to stretch out his arm to get to the ball, which seemed to be moving away from him at a serious rate of knots with each yard it covered.

And the difficulty of the save could be evidenced in exactly where the ball travelled afterwards because the Liverpool stopper was at full stretch to such an extent that the shot only barely made its way around the post.

All that, and coming from a strike walloped at you by a professional footballer from 12 yards out, so it’s important we don’t underrate saves like those because they truly are worth a tip of the hat.

© Provided by Give Me Sport Soccer Football – Carabao Cup Third Round – Liverpool v Derby County – Anfield, Liverpool, Britain – November 9, 2022 Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher makes a save in the penalty shoot-out REUTERS/Carl Recine EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.

Plus, it was quite the way for Kelleher to round off what was essentially a goalkeeper’s equivalent of a hat-trick, wrapping up yet another memorable night in the Carabao Cup to keep Liverpool competing on all fronts.

Just another day at the office for Kelleher.

Chelsea, Arsenal & Tottenham OUT! Man City 2-0 Chelsea | Arsenal 1-3 Brighton | N.Forest 2-0 Spurs (Football Terrace)

You can find all of the latest football news and rumours right here.