IRELAND'S CAOMHIN KELLEHER HAS ETCHED his name into the history books at Liverpool by becoming the first keeper to win four penalty shootouts for the club.
The Cork native helped his side overcome Derby County 3-2 in the League Cup on Wednesday.
The Ringmahon man's three saves not only meant he has now saved more penalties in penalty shootouts than any other Liverpool keeper with six, but it also gave him his fourth shootout win - the most in the club's history.
He's also overtaken former Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina's record of five peno's saved in shootouts.
The Ireland keeper saved spot-kicks brilliantly from fellow Irishman Conor Hourihane, Craig Forsyth and on-loan Everton forward Lewis Dobbin last night
Liverpool's Harvey Elliott sent Liverpool to the next round with the deciding penalty.
Caoimhin Kelleher deserves all the love he's getting from Liverpool fans ❤️#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/j3KAB0WKoS
— Kenny's Kids (@KennysKids) November 9, 2022
Liverpool haven't won a League Cup game at Anfield inside 90 minutes since 2016, but Kelleher won't care as he's now embedded himself into Liverpool history.
These wins included the likes of the League Cup win over Chelsea, Arsenal in 2019, Leicester in last season's semi-final, and last night's win over Derby.
His manager Jurgen Klopp praised his number two on the night
"He still has a lot of goalkeeper years to come for him so if he can keep that record it would be exceptional and completely insane numbers. He did really well," Klopp said.
"We never hold him back or say, 'Caoimhin, you can’t play.' He’s exceptional, absolutely exceptional.
"He came back from holiday and was injured. It took a really long time to get him back in training and back to speed. But obviously he’s ready now."
Kelleher spoke about the record and downplayed his feat for the club, thanking his luck the shootout went his way.
"Of course we had footage with John [Achterberg, first-team goalkeeping coach] Jack [Robinson, first-team assistant goalkeeping coach] and Tafa [Claudio Taffarel goalkeeping coach].
"On the day they can change their mind. They can do anything. Thankfully it worked out."
Derby boss Paul Warne refused to be downbeat after defeat. "Once it goes to penalties it is just a lottery. I don't know if I'd want to take a penalty. There is no shame in the penalties."
Kelleher is expected to link up with the Ireland squad for the November friendly's against Norway (17th), and Malta (20th) this month when Stephen Kenny announces his full squad.
Tonight was Caoimhín Kelleher's fourth penalty shootout win 🙌
That's more than any goalkeeper in our history 👏 pic.twitter.com/IkNte7fU9v— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 9, 2022
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