As Xabi Alonso can testify, Liverpool and Chelsea have history when it comes to penalties. As a man who won both the Champions League and the FA Cup on spot kicks in his time at Anfield knows , their trophies can come courtesy of a prowess from 12 yards.

And so there was a certain predictability that Alonso’s return to Anfield ended in a shootout, and that Liverpool won it. Chelsea have had five shootouts against them and lost them all, starting in the 2007 Champions League semi-finals, when Alonso was among the Liverpool scorers. Chelsea had lost, too, in the 2019 Super Cup, the 2022 Carabao Cup and the 2022 FA Cup. “Once we reached the penalties there is going to be a sad sight,” said Alonso. There is for Chelsea, anyway.

Xabi Alonso's Anfield return ended in disappointment (Getty)

An evening with some terrific penalties ended with a terrible one, Wesley Fofana skying Chelsea’s eighth of the shootout, and ninth of the night, into the Kop.…