Carabao Cup: Heartbreak for Ndidi, Iheanacho as Leicester lose to Liverpool on penalties

Super Eagles duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho suffered a painful heartbreak after Leicester City allowed a two-goal lead slip in the quarterfinal of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

Liverpool's goalkgoalkeeper, Caoimhin Kelleher, proved to be the hero as the Reds came from two goals down to beat Leicester 5-4 on penalties in their epic Carabao Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday night at Anfield.

Nigeria's Ndidi started at centre back while his compatriot, Iheanacho, who scored in the shootout, was a second half substitute as both clubs produced a classic quarterfinal encounter in the league cup.

In what was a blistering opening quarter, the Foxes took a shock 2-0 lead against the much-changed Liverpool thanks to a Jamie Vardy brace.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back for the hosts on the 19th minute but the visitors had the last laugh as James Maddison restored their two-goal advantage heading into the break with a stunning effort from 25 yards out just after the half hour mark.

Leicester almost made it 4-1 before the break but Vardy, who was on a hat-trick, watched as his brilliant effort came off the post as the Foxes led 3-1 at half time.

In the second half, Diogo Jota proved to be a super sub when he came on to pull another goal back for Liverpool to make it 3-2 on 68 minutes.

Despite Liverpool fielding a second-string team, Jurgen Klopp's men dominated the second half and piled on the pressure in search of the elusive equaliser.

They will be rewarded as it finally paid off in stoppage time, a long pass from James Milner was mis-timed by Super Eagles' Ndidi and fell kindly to Takumi Minamino, who made no mistake to net a dramatic leveler to send the game into penalties.

Liverpool's goalkeeper, Kelleher, turned out to be the hero of the shootout as he saved two penalties from Luke Thomas and Ryan Bertrand, after former hero, Minamino, turned villain when he missed the chance to win the game for the Reds with his spot-kick.

Jota stepped up to the plate to show the Japanese international how it is done, with the Portuguese calmly slotting his spot-kick home to seal the win and Liverpool's passage into the semifinals for the first time since 2017.

With the result, Liverpool faces Arsenal in one of the semifinals, while it is an all-London affair in the second semis as Chelsea take on Tottenham after both clubs defeated Brentford and West Ham respectively on Wednesday night.