Credit where credit is due, it was Britain’s three-times Olympic bronze medallist and 2006 Commonwealth heptathlon champion Kelly Sotherton who tweeted the suggestion as the seemingly endless process of spot-kicks went on in front of a capacity crowd of 88,512 that managers should take penalties too.

Sotherton, a notably keen Arsenal fan, also tweeted "I wish both teams could lose", but we’ll pass that by for the moment…

Her thought was this: "Managers should take penalties too."

Just imagine for a moment that, instead of smashing the 22^nd penalty to be taken over the bar, Chelsea's keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga - an outstanding example of nominative determinism if ever there was one - had matched the solid performance of Liverpool’s Irish goalie Caoimhín Kelleher with the previous effort and brought the score to 11-11.

As things stand within the rules, the process to determine who would claim the Carabao Cup - the latest sponsor incarnation of the Football League Cup that was first contested in England's 1960-1961 season - would have begun all over again.

And that has happened more than once…

The current recognised world record for a penalty shootout was set during the 2005 Namibian Cup final between KK Palace and the Civics, which required 48 kicks to be taken before Palace won 17-16.

Last October two non-League teams, Old Wulfrunians and Lane Head, set a British record when they required 44 kicks to settle their JW Hunt Cup tie - now there’s a sponsors' bonus.

During a process that took 35 minutes every player on each team had to take two penalties, including both goalkeepers, before Old Wulfrunians left back Jack Marsh, a teacher, scored the decisive penalty to put his side through 17-16.

Other notable penalty shootout marathons occurred in the 2009 Greek Cup final, where Olympiakos won 15-14 against AEK Athens after 34 kicks, a qualifying match for the 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship which required 32 kicks, with Anton Ferdinand’s miss giving The Netherlands the victory over England.

There was also a huge penalty shootout saga in one of the Football League Cup’s previous incarnations, the Capital One Cup, when a third-round tie between Liverpool and Middlesbrough required 30 penalties to be taken before the former side advanced thanks to a 14-13 scoreline.

More recently the 2021 UEFA Europa League final was won by Villareal in almost identical circumstances to yesterday's match after the Spanish side came through a penalty shootout against Manchester United 11-10 when the latter’s keeper, David de Gea, failed to match the scoring performance of his counterpart Gerónimo Rulli - although on this occasion Rulli made a decisive save.

History records a number of independently operated penalty shootouts in domestic and minor tournaments around the world.

Domestic examples include the 1952 Yugoslav Cup and the Coppa Italia in 1958 and 1959, while international examples include the 1963 Albanian Cup final, where the format was suggested by Norman Wisdom.

To be accurate, there is no proof that Wisdom made this suggestion, but I like to think he did.

There is more evidence, however, for crediting the origination of the modern penalty shootout to an Israeli, Yosef Dagan, who had a letter published in FIFA News in August 1969 suggesting the format after watching Israel lose their quarter-final match against Bulgaria at the 1968 Mexico Olympics on the drawing of lots.

In the same year a tournament of even greater moment, the European Championship, the drawing of lots saw Italy rather than the Soviet Union progress to the final.

FIFA took up Dagan's idea and it was adopted at the International Football Association Board meeting on June 27 1970.

Shortly afterwards, on August 5, George Best became the first player to take a kick in a penalty shootout in the English game, helping Manchester United reach the final of the pre-season Watney Cup by a 4-3 margin over Hull City.

The 1970-1971 season went on to establish penalty shootouts in the public consciousness as they occurred in both the European Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup.

In the former competition Everton advanced to the quarter-finals at the expense of Borussia Monchengladbach after winning 4-3, while in the latter Honved beat Aberdeen 5-4 to progress to the second round.

The first major international tournament to be decided by a penalty shootout was the 1976 European Championship. The final was between Czechoslovakia and world champions West Germany.

UEFA had made provision for a final replay two days later should it be required, but with the score standing at 2-2 after extra time the teams decided to use a shootout instead.

It was won 5-3 by the Czechs, for whom the decisive goal, after Uli Hoeneß had put his kick over the bar, was scored in sublimely nerveless fashion by Antonín Panenka, whose gentle chip over the diving keeper Sepp Maier has spawned countless imitations - taking a "Panenka" - down the years.

From such relatively modest scorelines we have come a long way over the past 50 years.

Is it now time for the shootout to evolve in even more dramatic directions, as mooted by Sotherton.

Think how the drama could have taken a further ratcheting at Wembley had the onus - after both keepers had scored - turned to the respective bosses.

Thomas Tuchel first. Then Jürgen Klopp. Two Germans following in a long and - save for 1976 - glorious penalty-taking tradition. It would have been immense.

Tuchel, who until his career was ended by a knee injury at the age of 25 had been a demanding and determined central defender with FC Augsburg and Stuttgarter Kickers. I'm thinking the ball would be thumped home. Klopp, who spent most of his career as a striker with Mainz 05, would surely have scored too - probably sending the keeper the wrong way.

It would have been fascinating to watch.

And if they both scored? Well, the process could have moved on - to involve the coaches; the physios; the tea ladies…

I'd have happily paid to watch it.