Liverpool Tops Bournemouth, Advances To Capital One Cup Quarterfinals

Nathaniel Clyne fired Liverpool into the quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup at Anfield on Wednesday evening, netting the decisive goal in a 1-0 home success.

The fullback struck his first goal for the club since a summer move from Southampton during the first half of a performance full of endeavor from Jurgen Klopp’s men against the Cherries.

And that proved sufficient to guide the Reds into the last eight of a competition they have won on a record eight occasions.

As was hinted at during the pregame press call, the manager made a number of changes to the starting XI in order to call on fresh legs for the fourth game in just 11 days.

Connor Randall was handed a Reds debut while Joao Carlos Teixeira and Cameron Brannagan both made their first senior starts in a young team captained by Kolo Toure.

Klopp’s selection had given a number of players who have been absent from the starting XI of late the chance to impress and, of those, Firmino, Teixeira and Jordon Ibe had looked arguably the brightest in the early stages.

As a result, it was little surprise to see the three combine for the opening goal, even if it needed Clyne to slam the ball home after Teixeira’s cheeky backheel was cleared off the line.

Bogdan was twice forced to deny Junior Stanislas in the aftermath of that goal, first from a header and then a powerful free-kick.

But the Reds matched their visitors blow for blow with Firmino forcing a save following a clever nutmeg before Teixeira hit the side-netting on his left foot from close range.

Even the loss of Toure to injury, which saw the stand-in skipper replaced by Martin Skrtel, did not harm the hosts’ rhythm as they dominated going into the break.

Although the second half opened with Shaun MacDonald sending a powerful header wide of the goal for Bournemouth, Liverpool quickly picked up where they left off.

The Reds saw the win out to secure their passage to the next round of the cup.

Clyne scores first goal for LFC (video) >>

Thumbnail photo via Clint Hughes/The Associated Press