2005 Football League Cup final
Event | 2004–05 Football League Cup | ||||||
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After extra time | |||||||
Date | 27 February 2005 | ||||||
Venue | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | ||||||
Man of the Match | John Terry (Chelsea)[1] | ||||||
Referee | Steve Bennett (Kent) | ||||||
Attendance | 71,622 [2] | ||||||
The 2005 Football League Cup final was a
As both teams were in the Premier League, they entered the competition in the third round. Liverpool's matches were generally close affairs, with only two victories secured by two goals or more. A 2–0 win over
Watched by a crowd of 78,000 Liverpool scored inside the first minute when
Route to the final
Liverpool
Round | Opponents | Score |
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3rd | Millwall (a) | 3–0 |
4th | Middlesbrough (h) | 2–0 |
QF | Tottenham Hotspur (a) | 1–1 (4–3 pen) |
SF | Watford (h) | 1–0 |
Watford (a) | 1–0 |
As Liverpool were competing in the Premier League, they entered the competition in the third round and were drawn against
Championship side Watford were the opposition in the semi-final which were held over two legs. Unlike previous rounds, Benítez picked a near full-strength team for the first leg at Anfield. The only goal of the match was scored in the 56th minute by Liverpool captain Gerrard.[6] The second leg at Watford's home ground, Vicarage Road finished in the same scoreline, with Gerrard again scoring the winning goal. As a result, Liverpool won the match 1–0 and 2–0 on aggregate to progress to the final.[7]
Chelsea
Round | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|
3rd | West Ham United (h) | 1–0 |
4th | Newcastle United (a) | 2–0 (a.e.t) |
QF | Fulham (a) | 2–1 |
SF | Manchester United (h) | 0–0 (h) |
Manchester United (a) | 2–1 |
West Ham United were Chelsea's opposition, as they entered the competition in the third round due to being in the Premier League. The match held at Chelsea's home ground Stamford Bridge, saw a Mateja Kežman goal secure a 1–0 victory for Chelsea.[8] Their opponents in the fourth round were fellow Premier League team Newcastle United. The match, held at Newcastle's home ground St James' Park, was goalless for the first 90 minutes and went to extra-time. Goals from Eiður Guðjohnsen and Arjen Robben resulted in a 2–0 victory for Chelsea.[9]
Local rivals Fulham were Chelsea's opposition in the quarter-final, with the match held at Fulham's home ground, Craven Cottage. A goal in the 55th minute from midfielder Damien Duff gave Chelsea a 1–0 lead. However, Fulham equalised in the 74th minute when striker Brian McBride scored. With both teams pushing forward to score the winning goal, substitute Frank Lampard scored in the 88th minute to secure a 2–1 victory for Chelsea.[10]
Chelsea were drawn against
Match
Background
Liverpool were appearing in their tenth final they had won seven (
Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez was adamant that opponents Chelsea were the team under the most pressure to win the match: "There will be more pressure on them, they have spent a lot of money and are the best team in the league, because they are in first position, but they've lost their last two important games. That means they will be under pressure. People will see them as the favourites, I'm sure, so the pressure is on them and not us." Benítez was confident that playing in a cup final would be beneficial to his players: "We need experiences like this to progress, when I decided to come here I said I wanted to win trophies. Our challenge is to win the Premier League, the Champions League, the Uefa Cup, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup. This is a chance to start."[16] Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek believed winning the competition in 2003 would benefit Liverpool: "It was great to win there before and I also had one of my best performances for Liverpool. There's a great buzz around the place; we know that the club expects to win trophies, and we're in a position to deliver that later this week."[17]
Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole was keen to win his first trophy in the final: "We don't feel under any great pressure, but we do feel excited about the possibility of winning our first trophy, we've just been imagining what it would be like to lift the trophy, who's going where in the line if we win it, and how we'll run round Cardiff with it." Teammate Frank Lampard was also keen to win his first trophy: "If you haven't won anything, a runners-up medal is not what you want at all." He also stated that Chelsea manager José Mourinho's desire to win had been rubbing off on the players: "He actually gets angrier with each one, so every time we lose it's the worst I've seen him, he's a winner, though, that's what you expect, and that's the attitude that's needed at Chelsea these days."[18]
Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, who had played in four matches during the competition was suspended after being shown a red card in a FA Cup match against Newcastle United. He would be replaced by Petr Čech.[19] Captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Morientes were expected to return to the starting line-up for Liverpool, while midfielder Xabi Alonso would miss out after breaking his leg in the last fixture between the two sides. Going into the match Chelsea were the favourites with the bookmakers at Even odds to win the match, while Liverpool were 9-4.[20] However, a poll on the BBC Sport website had 63% of fans backing Liverpool to win.[21]
First half
Within a minute of the kick-off, Liverpool had scored. Striker Fernando Morientes ran over to the right-hand side of the pitch, his cross to the edge of the Chelsea penalty area was met by midfielder
A minute later Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard was shown a yellow card for a foul on García. The resulting free-kick found Steven Gerrard, but he fell to the ground after a challenge from
Second half
Chelsea replaced midfielder
Liverpool had a chance to extend their lead in the 74th minute, but Gerrard was unable to score from a cross by Núñez, with his shot going wide of the Chelsea goal.
Extra time
Chelsea had the first chance in extra time when Duff's cross was met by Drogba, but his header hit the post. The pace of the game had slowed in extra time, neither side dominated the match.[24] The best chances for both sides came in the final minutes of the first half of extra time. A García cross was met by Bišćan, but he headed the ball over the crossbar while Kežman had a shot saved by Dudek.[24] However, in the first minute of the second half of extra time Chelsea had scored. A long throw-in to the near post of the Liverpool goal was missed by Terry and Hyypiä, but Drogba beat Carragher to the ball and gave Chelsea a 2–1 lead. Four minutes later, Chelsea had extended their lead to 3–1. A Lampard free-kick was punched clear by Dudek, but the ball fell to Guðjohnsen who played the ball across the Liverpool goal to Kežman who scored.[23] Two minutes later Liverpool scored. A Gerrard free-kick was headed in by Núñez to make the score 3–2. However, Liverpool were unable to find an equalising goal in the remaining minutes and Chelsea won 3–2 to win the League Cup for the third time.[24]
Details
Liverpool
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Chelsea
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Man of the match
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Match rules
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Post-match
Following the match, Chelsea manager José Mourinho claimed that the gesture he made had been intended for the media and not Liverpool fans: "The signal of close your mouth was not for them but for the press, they speak too much and in my opinion they try to do everything to disturb Chelsea. Wait, don't speak too soon. We lost two matches and in my opinion you (the media) try to take confidence from us and put pressure on us." Mourinho was happy that Chelsea had won but said the victory was not special: "It's just one more. I had a few before this, I'm very happy to win. It's important for the fans, for the club and especially for the players." Striker Eiður Guðjohnsen said Chelsea's victory was down to their hard work ethic: "It was a very intense and even game and it was hard to break them down, but hard work pays off in the end."[27]
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was determined to move on from the final after scoring an own goal: "Losing cup finals and scoring an own goal is a bad day for myself, but I'll look forward to the next game now." He also said that Chelsea deserved the victory: "We scored early on and tried to see the clock out because we were 15 minutes away from lifting the cup, but credit to Chelsea they came back and deserved the win." Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez believed that Liverpool would have won the match had they scored when they were leading 1–0: "If you have clear chances at 1–0 and you score the second goal you finish the game, but we made some mistakes and at the end we conceded in our own goal." Despite the defeat he was proud of his players' efforts: "I say to the players we must be proud because we played a good game, Chelsea controlled the game when they started playing, but we re-organised the team with three midfielders and had some opportunities."[28]
The two sides faced each other again in the semi-finals of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League. A goalless first leg at Stamford Bridge was followed by a 1–0 victory for Liverpool in the second leg as they progressed to the final. A 3–2 victory in a penalty shootout against
References
- ^ a b "Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners". The Football League. 26 February 2012. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
- ^ "Chelsea 3-2 Liverpool". lfchistory.net. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ "Millwall 0–3 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 26 October 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Liverpool 2–0 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 9 November 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Tottenham 1–1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Liverpool 1–0 Watford". 11 January 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Watford 0–1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 25 January 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Chelsea 1–0 Newcastle". BBC Sport. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Newcastle 0–2 Chelsea". 10 November 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Fulham 1–2 Chelsea". 30 November 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Chelsea 0–0 Manchester United". 12 January 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Manchester United 1–2 Chelsea". 26 January 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Liverpool 0–1 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 1 January 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Liverpool 3–1 Bayer Leverkusen". BBC Sport. 22 February 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Barcelona 2–1 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 23 February 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ Fifield, Dominic (26 February 2005). "'The pressure is on them' claims Benítez". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ Fifield, Dominic (24 February 2005). "Dudek vows to keep calm in Cardiff as mistakes mount". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ Wilson, Paul (27 February 2005). "Cole burns with blue ambition". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ "Cudicini misses Carling Cup final". BBC Sport. 22 February 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ Lawrence, Amy (27 February 2005). "Baros finally has chance to settle old score". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ McNulty, Phil (25 February 2005). "Tactical masters fight for glory". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ "Liverpool 2–3 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 27 February 2005. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Doyle, Paul (27 February 2005). "Chelsea 3 Liverpool 2". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Carling Cup clockwatch". BBC Sport. 27 February 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ "Chelsea claim English League Cup". CNN. 28 February 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ Wallace, Sam (28 February 2005). "Mourinho's dismissal mars his first Chelsea triumph". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ^ "Mourinho blasts press after win". BBC Sport. 27 February 2005. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ^ "Dejected Gerrard accepts defeat". BBC Sport. 27 February 2005. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ^ "AC Milan 3–3 Liverpool (aet)". BBC Sport. 25 May 2005. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ^ "Bolton 0–2 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 30 April 2005. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
External links
- Full match (broadcast on YouTube)