Kepa Arrizabalaga’s reputation as the penalty shootout specialist may not survive this. Brought on after 119 minutes, he failed to save any of Liverpool’s 11 spot kicks and then ballooned his over the bar. Liverpool’s record ninth League Cup came in remarkable fashion, after a shootout when no one saved a penalty but when Thomas Tuchel’s gamble backfired.
He had removed the man of the match to bring on Arrizabalaga, who infamously refused to be substituted for the shootout in the 2019 final. The Spaniard had been the European Super Cup hero, but this brought an exhibition of superb penalty taking, whether from regulars like James Milner to Liverpool’s reserve goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. And when Arrizabalaga missed, Liverpool won a domestic cup for the first time in a decade.
But it required a marathon. As two Premier League draws between them demonstrated, very little separates evenly-matched teams. Both teams had a goal chalked off; three, in Chelsea’s case. Both were denied by fine goalkeeping. Both had periods where they were on top. It contrived to be hugely eventful and yet goalless. It was an epic in every other respect.
Profligacy was a problem for Chelsea. Kai Havertz kept fashioning opportunities. His team-mates kept missing them. So often the big-game scorer, when Havertz did head in a Timo Werner cross, his supplier was offside. When he arrowed a shot in, he was offside. Yet Havertz’s elusiveness and excellence indicated why the false nine was preferred to Romelu Lukaku.
They encountered resistance in the form of an understudy. Klopp had promised that Kelleher would start, was true to his word and soon had early vindication.
Picked out by Havertz, Cesar Azpilicueta slid in a low cross and Christian Pulisic met it with a close-range shot. Kelleher saved. Havertz’s influence was a constant and he crossed when an unmarked Mason Mount volleyed wide just before half-time.
It was one of two glaring misses by the Englishman, who rolled a shot against the post when Pulisic sprang Liverpool’s offside trap with a chipped pass. It had Tuchel slapping the ground in frustration and was a reminder that Chelsea’s attackers score too few goals.
In this case, however, Kelleher was a factor. When Lukaku came off the bench, his injury-time effort was superbly repelled by the young Irishman at his near post. When he did bury a shot past Kelleher in extra time, he was marginally offside.
Liverpool’s plans had been disrupted when they lost Thiago in the warm-up and perhaps that accounted for a slow start. When they did assume the initiative, Thiago’s replacement drew the first of a double save.
Mendy’s second stop from Sadio Mane was outstanding. It brought a different kind of managerial vindication over a goalkeeping decision: Tuchel had sprung a surprise by picking his first choice.
When Mendy did err, with a poor kick, Thiago Silva came to his rescue, the 37-year-old retreating to clear Mohamed Salah’s shot off the line after Sadio Mane had released the Egyptian and he had dinked a shot over the goalkeeper.
Otherwise, Mendy was outstanding. Luis Diaz was menacing and impressive and also came close to scoring, escaping in behind Chelsea’s defence to have a shot Mendy blocked. Factor in a stop from Andy Robertson and a last-minute block from Virgil van Dijk’s header and it amounted to a terrific display of defiance.
When he was beaten, VAR came to Chelsea’s rescue. Trent Alexander-Arnold took a free kick for set-piece specialists, Mane headed it across the box and Joel Matip applied the finishing touch. It was chalked off because Van Dijk, who had blocked off Reece James, was offside. It was the story of the game but Arrizabalaga was the story of the shootout.
Men’s singles
Group A: Son Wan-ho (Kor), Lee Chong Wei (Mas), Ng Long Angus (HK), Chen Long (Chn)
Group B: Kidambi Srikanth (Ind), Shi Yugi (Chn), Chou Tien Chen (Tpe), Viktor Axelsen (Den)
Women’s Singles
Group A: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn), Pusarla Sindhu (Ind), Sayaka Sato (Jpn), He Bingjiao (Chn)
Group B: Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe), Sung Hi-hyun (Kor), Ratchanok Intanon (Tha), Chen Yufei (Chn)
RACE CARD
5pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Purebred Arabian Cup Conditions (PA); Dh 200,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Cup Conditions (PA); Dh 200,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Cup Listed (TB); Dh 380,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Group 3 (PA); Dh 500,000 (T) 1,600m
7pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Jewel Crown Group 1 (PA); Dh 5,000,000 (T) 2,200m
7.30pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Handicap (PA); Dh 150,000 (T) 1,400m
8pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (T); 1,400m
More from Janine di Giovanni
Five hymns the crowds can join in
Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday
Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir
Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium
‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song
‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar
‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion
‘Tell out my Soul’ as the final hymn after the blessings from the Pope
The choir will also sing the hymn ‘Legions of Heaven’ in Arabic as ‘Assakiroo Sama’
There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia
The choir will be accompanied by a brass ensemble and an organ
They will practice for the first time at the stadium on the eve of the public mass on Monday evening
More from Neighbourhood Watch
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m, Winner SS Lamea, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer).
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,400m, Winner AF Makerah, Sean Kirrane, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m, Winner Maaly Al Reef, Brett Doyle, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh90,000 1,600m, Winner AF Momtaz, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m, Winner Morjanah Al Reef, Brett Doyle, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 2,200m, Winner Mudarrab, Jim Crowley, Erwan Charpy
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
The 15 players selected
Muzzamil Afridi, Rahman Gul, Rizwan Haider (Dezo Devils); Shahbaz Ahmed, Suneth Sampath (Glory Gladiators); Waqas Gohar, Jamshaid Butt, Shadab Ahamed (Ganga Fighters); Ali Abid, Ayaz Butt, Ghulam Farid, JD Mahesh Kumara (Hiranni Heros); Inam Faried, Mausif Khan, Ashok Kumar (Texas Titans
Tewellah by Nawal Zoghbi is out now.
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
