Who is Caoimhin Kelleher, Liverpool's second-choice goalkeeper?

Caoimhín Odhrán Kelleher was born in Cork, Ireland, on November 23, 1998, and is an Irish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liverpool F. C. in the English Premier League.

More Carabao Cup Final News:

Liverpool wins the EFL Cup in a great match against Chelsea

The Irish goalkeeper joined Liverpool's U18 team in the summer of 2015, aged just 17. After starting his soccer development at Ringmahon Rangers and then Liverpool F. C, after four years he moved up to the first team, making his debut on September 25, 2019, in the League Cup against Milton Keynes Dons F. C., going on to play the full 90 minutes of the match.

On December 1, 2020, he made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 1-0 win over A. F. C. Ajax. Five days later he made his Premier League debut, becoming the third-youngest goalkeeper in the club's history to keep a clean sheet in the competition after not conceding a goal in a win over Wolverhampton Wanderers F. C.

Caoimhin Kelleher used to play as a striker

The Irish goalkeeper did not put on goalkeeping gloves until the age of 14. Up until that age, the now Liverpool goalkeeper played as a striker in Ireland's youth teams. The loss of the team's only goalkeeper, along with a call from his father, led Kelleher to step under the sticks for the first time and kick-start a career that reached its peak this weekend with the League Cup win.

When Kelleher was a forward, he was one of the best at his age, but one day, the team's goalkeeper decided he would no longer play, so a replacement was needed. The coaches didn't know what to do until Kelleher's father called them and explained that his son had good goalkeeping skills and that they could try him out.

At first, there was skepticism - was it worth losing one of the best strikers to put him in goal? Time spoke. Three years after that conversation, Kelleher signed for Liverpool, one of the world's top clubs.

He has already won his first title with Liverpool

To round off Kelleher's promotion, Jürgen Klopp came along and trusted him for the Carabao Cup final as he was the goalkeeper who had played the rest of the competition. Alisson, the usual starter, was available, but Klopp opted for Kelleher.

"Even in professional soccer, there has to be room for feelings. Caoimhin is a young guy, who has played the whole tournament, what am I going to do? I'm a professional coach, but I'm also a human being, and this time the human being won. He deserved to play," Klopp told Sky Sports after winning the League Cup.

With the victory over Chelsea at Wembley, Kelleher became the first goalkeeper in Liverpool's history to win three penalty shootouts. No one in the club's history has been victorious that many times.

This will bring him a special honor at the training center, alongside Alisson and Adrian San Miguel, Pepe Reina, and many others. "There is a wall in the training center where all the goalkeepers who have won a title with Liverpool are. Now we can add Caoimhin there," Klopp said.

More International Players News:

Why did Jesús Manuel "Tecatito" Corona make Sevilla's social networks boil?