Arteta had no more room to make changes. Even Holding had been thrown into central midfield at the last minute, so when the second half began, Arsenal not only failed to improve, they actually looked worse than they had before the break.
Leo had already identified the problem with Lokonga. With him and Holding paired in midfield, neither was particularly strong defensively, and neither was especially good at covering for the other. Losing Xhaka had effectively caused Arsenal's midfield quality to collapse.
Football was a game where the team that got dragged into the opponent's rhythm usually ended up losing.
And Arsenal hadn't merely been drawn into Liverpool's rhythm. Liverpool had completely smothered them.
Inside Arsenal's half, almost all the players carrying the ball belonged to Liverpool. Leo repeatedly targeted Lokonga, attacking his side while making sure Holding never had a chance to provide cover.
Arsenal's midfield now needed Martinelli and Lacazette to help defensively. Saka began receiving the ball and attempting more runs in the second half, but he was practically Arsenal's final remaining attacking outlet. Apart from getting the ball to Saka and letting him attack, Arsenal had nothing else.
Mac Allister had been brought on to help Gravenberch control Liverpool's midfield attacks more effectively. Mac Allister could both retain possession and distribute the ball.
Compared with Odegaard, pairing Mac Allister with Gravenberch made Liverpool's midfield far more comfortable.
Klopp wanted to bring out Gravenberch's strengths to the fullest, which was why he had sent Mac Allister on.
In the 57th minute, Leo received the ball in the middle and played it to Mac Allister.
Gravenberch immediately started forward.
This time, however, Mac Allister didn't release the ball as soon as Gravenberch began his run, unlike what had happened in the first half. He waited until Gravenberch had reached a more advanced position before picking him out with the pass.
That allowed the Dutch midfielder to make full use of his explosive turn and acceleration.
This time, instead of helping Liverpool transition from defense into attack, Gravenberch was driving an already established attack much farther forward in an instant.
That sudden burst completely split Holding and Lokonga apart.
Gabriel suddenly found himself having to deal with both Szoboszlai and Gravenberch.
And that still wasn't the worst of it.
Leo and Díaz also began moving toward Gabriel, and in an instant Liverpool had one player orchestrating the move while four attackers converged on the same area around him.
Szoboszlai moved toward Ramsdale.
Although he had strayed offside, his run was intended to obstruct the Arsenal goalkeeper's view.
Gravenberch played the ball toward Leo, but with Szoboszlai blocking part of his sightline, Ramsdale couldn't tell which of Liverpool's four attackers had actually received the pass.
The ball had gone to Díaz.
After receiving it, Díaz immediately pushed it forward again.
Leo broke away from Gabriel.
Ramsdale finally saw where Liverpool's attackers were, but by then Leo had already drawn back his leg to shoot.
From that position, once Leo got the shot away, Ramsdale had no chance of stopping it.
Gabriel didn't even have time to stick out his left leg before Leo's shot had already flown into Arsenal's net.
Arsenal's supporters no longer dared to hope their team could reach the EFL Cup final.
Klopp looked toward the stands.
Sitting there was Carsonham, the only assistant coach candidate who had made it through the shortlist. He was also set to become Liverpool's new assistant coach next season.
Carsonham was delighted.
So were Zubizarreta and Krawietz.
Klopp made another substitution.
This time, Núñez came on and Leo went off.
Liverpool were only two goals ahead, but Klopp could feel that they had complete control of the match.
Szoboszlai dropped into midfield, while Núñez moved up front.
Arsenal still couldn't create even the slightest hope of turning the EFL Cup semifinal around.
Núñez, Díaz, and Gakpo formed Liverpool's new young front three, and when Gakpo set up Díaz for the third goal, Liverpool's place in the EFL Cup final was secured.
Arsenal were eliminated.
Amid Gullit's congratulations, Scholes regretfully announced that Arsenal had missed out on a place in this season's EFL Cup final.
"After everything they've been through, Arsenal still haven't managed to reach the EFL Cup final. They played well, but Liverpool weren't eliminated like they were last season. Liverpool were excellent today."
Knocking Arsenal out didn't make Leo particularly happy.
After all, it had only earned Liverpool a place in the final.
But now Liverpool had a chance to win a trophy, something they had failed to do the previous season.
Back in the locker room, Klopp finished speaking and instinctively looked toward Leo.
Whenever Leo had something to say, Klopp would give him the chance to address the squad.
Gakpo was in especially high spirits. He had never experienced scoring such an important goal before, and he was happily chatting with the players around him.
But the moment Leo stood up, Gakpo immediately stopped talking.
Every Liverpool player turned toward their captain and waited for him to speak.
"There's one achievement I want to talk about. It's something most players have probably never even considered before."
"The Seven-Time Champions."
The moment Leo said it, everyone reacted the same way.
It sounded strange.
No one had ever become Seven-Time Champions before. Even during Liverpool's greatest season, they had only managed to win six trophies.
Leo had always believed that as long as the EFL Cup continued to exist, an English club had the chance to become Seven-Time Champions.
No matter how brilliant teams elsewhere might be, even Barcelona at their absolute peak could only win six trophies, because they simply didn't have seven available competitions to win.
Liverpool did.
Seven trophies were there waiting for them.
"I don't know how difficult it is to become Seven-Time Champions."
"And I don't care whether becoming Seven-Time Champions would win me another Ballon d'Or. If one of you performs well enough while we're chasing all seven trophies, then maybe you can win the Ballon d'Or instead."
"My only dream left in my football career is to become Seven-Time Champions."
Looking at the seriousness on Leo's face, every Liverpool player understood that their captain wasn't joking.
"We're going to become Seven-Time Champions!"
...
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