It was the broadcaster’s most watched edition of the match ever

Liverpool League Cup football

Sky Sports has revealed that the League Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool was its most watched ever.

It had both the highest in-home peak and average viewing figures for the match, at over four million and 3.16 million respectively. It is highest peak of the 2021/22 domestic football season, and the highest peak for any match since Manchester United v Liverpool in January 2021, which drew 4.8 million. 

The game had four disallowed goals and eventually went down to penalties, with Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga missing the decisive kick for Liverpool to win 11-10 and lift the trophy.

There was also strong viewing across Sky Sports’ social and digital platforms, with more than 3m video views on Sky Sports Football Twitter and 510k views on Sky Sports Football Facebook. 4.5m views were received on Sky Sports Facebook throughout the day with the best performing video – a clip of the young fan lifting the Carabao Cup – landing 1.2m views of the total 11.8m. Meanwhile, there were 4.9m views on Sky Sports Football YouTube.

In addition to the viewing figures, some new camera technology was used in the production.

Super Slow Spidercam - a world first in football coverage - was used to showcase key replays, and montage shots. It was still used at full speed for live cuts and analytical replays, was switched to super slow for replays of set-pieces and penalty kicks - which was particularly pertinent in the final shootout. 

In addition, another super slow-motion camera, the Super Slow Steadicam was used for trophy lift and celebrations at full time. There were also new ACS net cameras with zoom lenses, which replaced fixed wide-angle lenses for use with penalty area incidents.