Against both Aston Villa in round three and Southampton in round four, Kepa made decisive penalty saves in the shoot-out that settled a pair of keenly fought 1-1 draws.

It is testament to the goalkeeper’s dedication and desire that he has continued to play such an important role this season despite being the club’s back-up keeper – don’t forget his two stops in the Super Cup shoot-out – and Kepa has explained why he has been able to maintain such high standards.

‘It’s not easy to step on the pitch and feel like you are playing every week, but I feel like this,’ he said.

‘It’s important to help the team and be calm, and be happy with your performance. Those are the most important things for me. You know I am not playing a lot, so the opportunities I have, I want to take.

‘I have liked penalties since I was young,’ the 27-year-old added.

‘I won many penalty shoot-outs when I was playing academy football, and now during my professional career. I train for them, but you need a mix of things: a bit of luck, a bit of training, a bit of mental strength.

‘I feel good in these situations, and I’m happy when we arrive to penalties. Hopefully we can keep like this and keep winning penalty shoot-outs.’

For what it’s worth, Brentford have won their past two shoot-outs, so if the game does end in a draw tonight two successful spot-kick sides will be going face to face. In the regulation 90 minutes Kepa expects a similarly tricky test to the one we faced in the league at the Brentford Community Stadium. He believes we will require ‘our best performance’ to advance to the semi-finals.

Since arriving in England in 2018, domestic silverware has so far eluded the Spaniard. He made shoot-out saves in the Carabao Cup semi-final and final in his first season but with nothing to show for it, and our three cup final losses in recent years only fuel his desire to go one better.

‘The Carabao Cup is one trophy I don’t have, so I want it. It’s simple. This club has a big trophy mentality. We want to win every single trophy.

‘Losing the final in 2019 gives me more motivation. I came here to win trophies. We have won important trophies in the last seasons, but we didn’t this one.

‘The Carabao Cup is a good way to have a trophy early in the season. Right now, it’s so difficult to win trophies, whichever one, so we cannot lose our focus, but we will push each other to arrive in the final and try to win it.’