Within the first half hour of Liverpool’s Capital One Cup semifinal in Stoke, they suffered two injuries and had to deal with a new injury before the game. Mamadou Sakho was taken out of the Liverpool 18 due to a knee injury. Then, Philippe Coutinho suffered a hamstring injury in the 18th minute and had to be subbed out. Then just 16 minutes later, Dejan Lovren suffered the same fate and also had to be subbed out.
It seemed like things were dire for Liverpool but Jordon Ibe, along with great passing from Adam Lallana and Joe Allen, fooled Stoke’s offside trap and took advantage of a lack of defenders to go up 1-0 in this two legged series.
And it’s @LFC that draws first blood. @IbeJordon finds back of net. #CapitalOneCup https://t.co/fBglUNWCfC
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) January 5, 2016
It’s important to note that the away goal rule in the Capital One Cup can get a bit tricky. As it says in the rules, the away goal rule only applies if the score is still tied after extra time in the second leg. So while Liverpool got out to an early lead, Stoke is still able to get back into the game.
