Chelsea Exit Carabao Cup as Alonso Names League Priority

Chelsea were eliminated from the Carabao Cup after Liverpool won a penalty shootout at Anfield, and manager Xabi Alonso said the Premier League was his team’s main focus after the defeat. The fourth-round tie finished 1-1 before Liverpool prevailed 6-5 on penalties. Chelsea had led through Morgan Rogers’ 40th-minute penalty, but Cody Gakpo equalised from the spot three minutes later. With no further goals, the match went to a shootout. Chelsea missed three attempts, including the decisive effort from Wesley Fofana, while Liverpool advanced to the quarterfinals. Afterward, Alonso called the cup a small setback and described it as Chelsea’s least important competition of the season. He said the team needed to move on and identified the Premier League as its main priority. He also praised Chelsea’s performance, saying his players had competed at a good level and shown improvement. The comments followed Alonso’s pre-match statement that Chelsea wanted to reach the next round and had taken the competition seriously from the start. He had also said after the match that the result was not what the team wanted, but that the tie had been close and penalties could decide either way....