No trophy for Sonny as Tottenham fall to Liverpool in League Cup semifinals

Tottenham Hotspur’s South Korean captain Son Heung-min will have to wait at least another season for his first-ever trophy after his club bowed out of the semifinals of the English Football League (EFL) Cup.

Liverpool pounded Spurs 4-0 in the second leg of their semifinal showdown at Anfield in Liverpool, England, on Thursday (local time), prevailing 4-1 on aggregate to advance to the final.

They will go for their second consecutive League Cup title and their 11th overall. They have already won more League Cups than anyone. Awaiting the Reds in the one-and-done final on March 16 will be Newcastle United, who knocked off Arsenal 4-0 on aggregate.

Spurs, who took the opening leg 1-0 on Jan. 8, were trying to win their first EFL Cup since 2008. They had last reached the final in 2021, when they lost to Manchester United 1-0.

Spurs have not lifted any trophy since that EFL Cup win. Son, who made his senior professional debut in 2010 with Hamburger SV in Germany and joined Tottenham in 2015, has yet to win any competition in his career.

Tottenham only needed a draw in the second leg to book a ticket to the final, but instead Liverpool dominated the proceedings in the first half with a few dangerous looks.

They finally broke the ice in the 34th minute with Cody Gakpo’s goal, his tournament-best fifth of the League Cup. Tottenham managed just one shot attempt in the first half.

Mohamed Salah scored a penalty six minutes after the restart to put Liverpool up 2-0 in the match and 2-1 on aggregate. After hitting the post a couple of times, Liverpool opened up a 3-0 lead on Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal in the 75th minute.

Son struck the woodwork three minutes later with his left-footed attempt and then saw Liverpool pull away further in the 80th minute with Virgil van Dijk’s goal.