Liverpool managed to triumph 1-0 over Chelsea in Sunday's Carabao Cup final, sealing a stunning victory for Jurgen Klopp's charges.
This is now the third time out of the last four finals that the clubs have met where Liverpool have managed to come out on top.
In each win, Klopp was the manager and instilled a level of confidence among his "mentality monsters" to find their way to the trophy.
Granted, the last three times the sides have met in finals, each game has gone into extra time with either side being in a chance to come away as winners.
However, unlike their prior two meetings, the 2023/24 edition of the Carabao Cup final didn't end via penalties. In fact, this time, it was ended by Liverpool captain, Virgil van Dijk.
The Netherlands international managed to place a glancing header into the back of the net in the 118th minute.
Liverpool's triumph didn't, however, come as easily as many may have expected. This could've been due to many reasons, however, the fact that Klopp had a total of 11 players absent due to injury.
Despite this major disadvantage, "Klopp's kids," as Gary Neville put it, managed to dig in and find a winner.
The performance of Klopp's kids in the final
Due to the sheer number of injuries which Liverpool managed to sustain in the build-up to the final, many of Liverpool's academy graduates had to step up to the occasion and fill in for their senior team members.
Each of Conor Bradley, Jayden Danns, Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jarell Quansah all stepped up to the bright lights of the final on Sunday.
In fact, Bradley even started the game to help fill in for the injured Trent Alexander Arnold. In addition to Doak, Bradley has been one of the Reds' best players this season.
Despite just returning from a long-term injury in December, he has managed to show to footballing world what he is capable of.
Joe Gomez
26
Bobby Clark
19
Kostas Tsimikas
27
James McConnell
19
Jayden Danns
18
Jarell Quansah
21
Adrian
37
Trey Nyoni
16
Lewis Koumas
18
As per Transfermarkt, across all competitions this season, the right-back has made a total of 12 appearances and managed to be involved with six goals during that time.
Indeed, the youngster did win all three of Bolton's Player of the Season awards during the 2022/23 campaign, however, nobody expected him to be as good as he has been for the Reds.
Bradley has enjoyed a meteoric rise this season, but it goes without saying that, if he was fit, the option of another precocious young talent on the bench could've made all the difference in the final and allowed the game to end in normal time.
Indeed, although the Anfield outfit had a plethora of young talent on the pitch, one brilliant youngster didn't even make the squad.
Liverpool's best academy star
Ben Doak is the player in question and, due to injury, he was unfortunately absent from Sunday's squad.
However, if he had been fit, there is no doubt that we would have seen the 18-year-old at least on the bench.
The winger joined the club in March 2022 and Liverpool reportedly had to spend a total of £600k in compensation to pry him from his boyhood club, Celtic.
Although whilst in Scotland, his then manager, Ange Postecoglou, hailed the youngster as a "fantastic kid," after the winger made his senior debut. Having since joined Liverpool's academy he managed to come on in leaps and bounds.
For example, in the third round of the Carabao Cup, in which the Reds faced Leicester, Doak started the game and managed to maintain a passing accuracy percentage of 96%. To put that into context, the youngster finished the game with more accurate passes than the likes of senior stars Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota.
Including the third-round clash against the Foxes, Doak has amassed a total of six senior appearances this season with three even coming in the Europa League. The teenager has been a regular source of goals for the U21s since making the move, finding the net five times in 16 outings, while also supplying two assists.
If this doesn't show the quality which the Scotland U21 international possesses, then the faith Klopp has in him should. It was desperately unfortunate he missed Sunday's showpiece event.
