Jon Flanagan earned Jürgen Klopp's Man of the Match award for his 105-minute contribution in the Capital One Cup semi-final, second leg against Stoke City on Tuesday night.

You would never have guessed that the Liverpool defender had not started a senior game since May 2014 as he offered support and reliability up and down the right side at Anfield.

Marko Arnautovic scored the only goal of the game to make the tie 1-1 on aggregate and force a penalty shootout, which the Reds won 6-5 to secure a place in the final at Wembley.

Asked about Flanagan at his post-match press conference, Klopp said: “My Man of the Match. He was great. 105 minutes after [his last start in] May 2014, it is unbelievable.

“Usually we know it is not the best thing but we had no other chance. We were always in contact with him, always asking. Even when we took him out, he said ‘I could go on’. That was really great.

“You lose the feeling in such a long time. In shorter times [out], you lose the feeling for the game. All the things with the ball, you don’t forget, but then to defend in the right spaces…

“We defend differently than Liverpool defended when he last played. He did really great and he was Man of the Match for me.”