Liverpool 3-3 Leicester (penalties 5-4): Weakened Reds side advance to the Carabao Cup semi-final

On the touchline, Jurgen Klopp must have loved this.

The Liverpool manager has been vocal about the challenges presented by a demandingly relentless fixture schedule. For this game – so far down his list of priorities he will have struggled to locate it – Klopp selected a team that was to some degree there to be beaten. A debutant at centre half. A young full-back on the right wing. Half a dozen superstars left at home.

But as he watched his side reel in Leicester by sheer force of will in the second half before downing them in a penalty shoot-out, Klopp will taken just as much satisfaction as he would from just about anything else this season. For this is the culture he has created. Do not lie down. Do not lose. This is a club with his name written right through it. This is Klopp’s Liverpool.

Liverpool advanced to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup after staging a remarkable comeback victory against Leicester City

Takumi Minamino struck in the dying seconds of the game to take this thrilling tie to a penalty shootout with the scores 3-3

Back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher was the hero as the Irishman saved two Leicester penalties to help the Reds advance

Diogo Jota kept his cool to smash the ball past Kasper Schmeichel to book the Reds’ place in the final four this season

The Portuguese attacker celebrates in front of supporters after sealing a remarkable turnaround for his side at Anfield

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp celebrates in front of the Kop end after another memorable night of action at Anfield

Defeat here at a wonderfully raucous Anfield was tough on Brendan Rodgers and Leicester. Rodgers selected a team to win and they were two goals up after nine minutes and 3-1 up at half-time. Had Jamie Vardy not struck a post just before the break, he would have had a hat-trick and Leicester a lead they surely would not have given up.

But that miss proved decisive. Liverpool sent on senior players at half-time – Diogo Jota and James Milner among them – and as Leicester lost defenders to injury and were forced to tactically reshuffle, Klopp’s players were ruthless enough to haul themselves level.

It took them all of the second half and then some more to do it. Jota scored midway through the half but there were 95 minutes on the clock when Takumi Minamino volleyed the equaliser in at the Kop End. By now the old place was jumping.

Once the penalty shoot-out began, it seemed as though Leicester’s race had already been run and so it proved.

They made a decent fist of it in front of their own impressively large following but once Luke Thomas and Ryan Bertrand saw weak kicks saved by Caomhin Kelleher, Jota rolled in the winning kick after Minamino had spurned his own chance to seal the deal by lashing his shot against the bar and over.

Jota’s winning penalty was his team’s sixth. Leicester scored four and missed two and not one was taken by Vardy. He was apparently injured and that was perhaps costly. Early in the game, the Leicester forward appeared to be in the form of his life. He looked unstoppable and, driven forwards by the superb midfield pairing of James Maddison and young Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, so did the visiting team.

For Liverpool only young Tyler Morton remained from the team that had drawn at Tottenham on Sunday while young defender Neco Williams started on the right side of the front three and French defender Billy Koumetio made his first senior start alongside Joe Gomez at the back.

None of this was a particular surprise. Nor, as a result, was Leicester’s early dominance. Rodgers team sensed opportunity and were terrific for long spells.

They could have scored in only the fifth minute when Dewsbury-Hall played Patson Daka in behind a square Liverpool defence – Kelleher saving – and Liverpool were undone too easily when Vardy scored his first goal four minutes later. Maddison slid his team-mate clear down the right and he scored low beneath the goalkeeper’s palm in to the far corner.

It was a classic Leicester goal. As soon as Madisson took possession in space, with runners left and right, Liverpool were in trouble.

English marksman Jamie Vardy opened the scoring for the visiting Foxes after just nine minutes with a thunderous strike

The Leicester City striker wheels away in celebration after scoring the opening goal against Jurgen Klopp’s weakened side

Vardy doubled his tally for the night and his side’s lead minutes later with a cool, open-footed finish past Caoimhin Kelleher

Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back with a long-range effort that beat Kasper Schmeichel

Oxlade-Chamberlain and Bradley put in a subdued celebration after the ex-Arsenal man pulled one goal back at Anfield

So they were again just three minutes later. This time it was Dewsbury-Hall who provided the key pass down the left to Daka and when he crossed square across the six-yard box Vardy was able to sweep in his second.

Leicester looked to be in the mood while Liverpool looked as they would have preferred the sofa. Soon there was some hope as Roberto Firmino held the ball up beautifully to feed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and a first time shot with the right foot fizzed in to the corner from 18 yards.

With only 19 minutes gone, it had already been quite a game. Briefly Liverpool looked capable of inflicting further damage but Leicester continued to look sharper. Vardy almost bustled through for a very quick hat-trick but the biggest moment of his night was yet to come.

Before that Maddison served further notice of his return to form when he beat Kelleher with as venomous shot from 25 yards after yet more sound service from Dewsbury-Hall. Maddison’s strike – his fifth in seven games – went like a rocket at the Kop End but passed directly above Kelleher. Could the goalkeeper have saved it? Maybe.

Leicester star James Maddison restored the visitors’ two-goal lead with a sensational strike from range in the first half

Maddison slides on his knees in celebration after scoring the goal of the night during a blistering opening 45 minutes

Reds captain Jordan Henderson attempts to rally the Premier League title contenders after a poor start to Wednesday’s game

Portuguese forward Diogo Jota was introduced in the second half and he scored to reduce the deficit to just one goal

The former Wolverhampton Wanderers star takes no time to celebrate his goal as Liverpool sought a crucial equaliser

Young defender Owen Beck celebrates with Minamino after the Japanese struck late to send the game to penalties

With their two-goal advantage restored, Leicester could have finished the game. The Gomez-Koumetio partnership had looked insecure from the start and when Vardy robbed the Englishman in the 38th minute he beat Kelleher across his body once more but the ball came back from the post.

On another night that miss may not have mattered but here it did. Klopp sent on the cavalry – well, some of it – at half-time and then Leicester lost players to injury. Caglar Soyuncu was injured tackling Firmino while Ricardo Pereira also went off. Rodgers shuffled to a back three and took Dewsbury-Hall off to help with that. At a stroke, Leicester’s impetus was gone and from then on it was all Liverpool.

Jota scored from Minamino’s pass in the 67th minute only for Leicester to hang on heroically. Kasper Schmeichel saved astonishingly from Naby Keita’s deflected drive only to be beaten at the death after Wilfried Ndidi – playing as an emergency centre half all night – misjudged a Milner cross to afford Minamino some space he did not waste.

For sure, Leicester’s injury problems cut them off at their knees here. Not all teams would have taken advantage, though. Liverpool, whoever wears the shirt, rarely need asking twice.

Jurgen Klopp made 10 changes from the side that drew with Tottenham and handed youngster Conor Bradley a start

Liverpool and Japan international Takumi Minamino attempts to keep hold of the ball in front of defender Ricardo Pereira 

Caglar Soyuncu makes an important tackle to prevent Roberto Firmino from scoring past Kasper Schmeichel at Anfield