The teams had traded goals from the spot in in normal time, with Morgan Rogers’ opener cancelled out by Cody Gakpo’s finish from the spot soon after in the final five minutes of the first half as the scoreline finished 1-1 in normal time.
However, it was the Reds who would ultimately prevail in front of the Kop, with Joe Gomez’s successful effort followed by a miss from Wesley Fofana to determine the outcome.
**Team**
Seven changes were made by Andoni Iraola for the tie following the weekend Premier League win over Brighton & Hove Albion, with only Ronald Araujo, Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch and Virgil van Dijk retaining their places in the side.
Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Van Dijk (Jacquet, 72), Gakpo, Tsimikas, Araujo, Gravenberch, Nyoni (Mac Allister, 82), McConnell (Wirtz, 58), Koumas (Barcola, 58), Ngumoha (Isak, 82).
Unused subs: Alisson, Endo, Chiesa, Chambers.
**First half**
Liverpool’s third in a sequence of four consecutive Anfield games got under way with the Reds attacking the Kop in the first half - and doing so with an intent to take early control of the game.
Indeed, only good recovery play from Maxence Lacroix prevented Gakpo from getting a clear shot in on goal from Lewis Koumas’s pass into the area in the early exchanges.
At the other end, Van Dijk was required to execute an equally as important intervention when Danny Welbeck looked to prod a pass from Wesley Fofana beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Nevertheless, the game ticked into the half-hour mark without either goalkeeper being tested.
That statistic wouldn’t last too much longer as, with 38 minutes on the clock, Chelsea were awarded a penalty when Moises Caicedo went to ground under a challenge from Gravenberch. Rogers assumed responsibility and converted with a finish into the right corner of the goal.
But just moments later, Liverpool were presented with a spot-kick of their own when Wesley Fofana handballed in the area at a corner.
Gakpo stepped up and converted with aplomb via a powerful low finish that levelled the scoreline.
The Holland forward then brought a save out of Mike Penders with a drive from outside the area in a frenetic finale to the opening half.
**Second half**
Mamardashvili was needed to palm away a shot from inside the box from Rogers in the early moments of the second period before plucking a curling Pedro Neto shot out of the air.
On the hour, Araujo’s powerful close-range header was saved by Penders before Chelsea broke, resulting in Gomez – who had supplied the cross at the other end – thwarting Rogers’ shot in the area.
Chelsea’s stopper then kept out a hit from Bradley Barcola – on as an earlier substitute along with Florian Wirtz - as the game’s intensity levels went up a notch.
The Blues were denied a late lead by Mamardashvili’s one-handed save to divert Marco Palestra’s sweep towards the near bottom corner behind. Meanwhile last-ditch defending in the six-yard box frustrated Wirtz and Barcola in the same passage of play.
However, neither side were able to make a further breakthrough in normal time, meaning the tie would need to be settled via a penalty shootout.
After both teams had scored five from seven each in the shootout, Fofana blazed into the Kop after Gomez’s thumping finish to send Liverpool into the last eight of the competition.
**Attendance:** 60,214