Trey Nyoni has lifted his first piece of silverware at Liverpool after a youthful Reds side beat Chelsea 1-0 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
Nyoni, who is eligible to play for the Warriors, was on the bench throughout the match but received his winners’ medal.
Captain Virgil van Dijk’s headed 118th-minute goal guaranteed at least one piece of silverware for the Reds, as the club remains in the hunt for the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Europa League titles.
During the frenetic encounter that spilt into extra-time after it ended 0-0, both teams hit the post and were denied goals by VAR for offside.
Chelse winger Raheem Sterling had the ball in the back of the net for Chelsea in the first half, but VAR narrowly ruled Nicolas Jackson offside in the build-up.
Van Dijk thought he had headed Liverpool in front from a free-kick in the second half but, after a lengthy check, VAR deemed Japanese international Wataru Endo was offside in the build-up, impeding Levi Colwill – who was prevented from reaching the Reds captain.
However, with two minutes left of extra-time, Van Dijk rose again to nod Konstantinos Tsimikas’ corner into the back.
Liverpool is in an injury crisis and had several senior players absent from the match-day squad.
Among the notable absentees were Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah, Thiago Alcantara, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Stefan Bajcetic, Alisson Becker, Ben Doak, Curtis Jones, Joel Matip, Darwin Nunez, and Ryan Gravenberch who was injured early in yesterday’s match.
Unheralded Liverpool youngsters, among them Conor Bradley, Bobby Clark, James McConnell, Jayden Danns and Jarell Quansah made the Reds’ win sweeter given that Chelsea had most of its expensive players available.
Nyoni was born in 2007 in England to Zimbabwean parents, which means he is eligible to play for England, his country of birth, or Zimbabwe through his family.
He was with the Leicester City Academy for a decade and played for the Foxes in the U18 Premier League during the 2022/23 season.
Nyoni played for the club’s under-21 side against Porto in the Premier League International Cup in December, while he was still 15.
The youngster joined the Liverpool Academy in August 2023 following his departure from Leicester City the previous month.
Nyoni has featured for the Three Lions (England) at youth level and scored and grabbed an assist on his debut for England Under-16s in a 3-2 friendly victory over Italy in 2022.
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