Tsimikas the unlikely Hero as Liverpool win the FA Cup

Liverpool won their second trophy of the season after Konstantinos Tsimikas scored the winning penalty for the Reds in the 2022 FA Cup Final, after the shoot-out went to sudden-death. 

Tsimikas wasn't the name I was expecting to be referencing first at the end of the match. But the Greek full-back ended up the hero after the two teams played out a 0-0 draw across 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra-time.

Anybody who didn't watch the match and just saw the score line might be forgiven for thinking the game was a damp squib. But in fairness it wasn't. 

Both sides tried to win it, and although it obviously won't go down as an FA Cup classic final, it wasn't the worst game ever. 

Extra time wasn't great, but the shoot out was absorbing stuff. 

Mane is Human after all

I'm not sure anybody in Wembley, or at home watching on their TV screens could quite believe it when Sadio Mane missed the spot kick that would have won the shootout in regulation. 

Mane has been a deadly assassin from the spot in high pressure situations this season. 

Already he has scored the decisive spot kicks in shoot-outs to decide the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, and the playoff against Egypt to decide who qualified for this year's World Cup Finals.

He is deadly in these situations, and it's ironic that it was his Senegalese national keeper that finally facilitated his miss. 

Another thing I found slightly odd was Mason Mount -  who missed the sudden death kick, wasn't one of the original five takers.

Mount is one of the best dead-ball strikers in the Chelsea team. If not ready now, surely Mount has to develop into one of the go-to men in the Chelsea squad.

Mount is a talent that should be starting to become a leader in this Chelsea side by now. In my view, he should have been in the original five penalty takers.

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