Liverpool reached the English League Cup round-of-16 after an extraordinary third-round tie saw them beat second-tier Middlesbrough 14-13 in a penalty shootout on Tuesday, while Southampton knocked Arsenal out of the competition.
Both goalkeepers scored in the shootout at Anfield where all 22 players still on the field took spot-kicks, before Middlesbrough’s Albert Adomah fired wide to ensure eight-time League Cup winners Liverpool’s victory.
Earlier, 17-year-old striker Jordan Rossiter marked his Liverpool debut with a 10th-minute goal, before Adam Reach equalized for Middlesbrough just after the hour.
Photo: Reuters
The sides remained locked at 1-1 until the end of normal time. It seemed Liverpool substitute Suso had done enough to give the home side victory with a 109th-minute goal that made it 2-1, but with virtually the last kick of extra-time, Boro’s Patrick Bamford scored from the penalty spot after he was brought down in the penalty area by Kolo Toure.
That led to a remarkable 30 more penalties in the shootout.
Earlier, Southampton — second in the English Premier League — came from behind to win 2-1 away to top-flight rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made 10 changes to the side that beat Aston Villa 3-0 in the Premier League last weekend, but when Alexis Sanchez put the Gunners 1-0 up with a superb 14th-minute free-kick it seemed the home side were on their way to victory.
However, the Gunners, with Saints old boy Calum Chambers the sole survivor from the Villa victory, were pegged back by Dusan Tadic’s penalty six minutes later.
Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne then scored what turned out to be the winning goal with a blockbuster long-range strike five minutes before halftime.
Saints squandered several chances, but did enough to knock Arsenal out of the tournament.
Another all-Premier League tie saw Swansea City overwhelm Everton 3-0 at the Liberty Stadium.
Nathan Dyer opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark, before Gylfi Sigurdsson made it 2-0 in the 65th minute.
Marvin Emnes added a third goal in the closing minutes as Welsh club Swansea beat Everton for the first time in their history.
It was the second match in a row where Everton had conceded three goals following their 3-2 league loss at home to Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Sunderland, last season’s beaten finalists, bowed out following a 2-1 defeat by fellow Premier League side Stoke City.
Jozy Altidore’s first goal since December last year put Sunderland in front, but Stoke hit back thanks to leftback Marc Muniesa’s first two goals for the club.
Third-tier Milton Keynes Dons, who knocked English giants Manchester United out in the last round, continued their progress when Benik Afobe scored twice in a 2-0 win over Bradford City.
Meanwhile, fourth-tier Shrewsbury Town followed up their second-round victory over Leicester City by knocking out Championship side Norwich City, chasing promotion to the Premier League, with a 1-0 win.
Managerless Cardiff City lost 3-0 at home Bournemouth, while Derby County saw off Championship rivals Reading 2-0.
Fulham, who recently sacked manager Felix Magath, won for the first time this season as the side bottom of the Championship beat third-tier Doncaster Rovers 2-1, while Sheffield United saw off fellow third-tier side Leyton Orient 1-0.
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