Jurgen Klopp has dismissed claims he “couldn’t be bothered” about the England League Cup
Liverpool are seeking a record-breaking ninth League Cup triumph when they take on Chelsea in Sunday’s final at Wembley.
Under Klopp, the Reds were beaten finalists in his first season in 2016 before reaching the semi-finals the following campaign.
Since then, though, they have been eliminated early in three of the last four seasons and were forced to field an Academy team in the 5-0 quarter-final defeat at Aston Villa in 2019 due to a fixture clash with the FIFA Club World Cup.
Klopp has fielded 29 different players in this year’s competition, with Thiago Alcantara, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz poised to increase that number further on Sunday.
And speaking to journalists, the Reds boss said: “I'm sure since we worked together you thought once or twice that I couldn't be bothered about the Carabao Cup, I know that.
"I wish you would have been once in my situation between two other games making a decision about the team for this one game and considering all the information I had from the medical department.
"And then you say afterwards, 'you obviously don't want to win it'. No. I just collect the bones and use the last of the few guys we have.
"Usually we go out pretty early, and it's a time when we play every three minutes. Then you have the wrong draw.
"Size-wise our squad has been like it is now for the past two or three years. The only problem is they were never all available. That means you have to bring in all the kids and then you draw a tough team away. Congratulations!
"That's nothing to do with not wanting to win the competition. It just means we have to consider all the other stuff as well.
"It makes me even more happy that we found a way to Wembley again. Why is it 'Wem-ber-lee' by the way? I saw it written down that way. Ah, it's how you sing it."