Carling Cup : Reliving Liverpool's 7 Wins in League Cup Finals

Liverpool takes on Cardiff City in the Carling Cup final this Sunday at Wembley Stadium. The Reds are favorites to lift their eighth League Cup crown against the spirited underdogs from Wales. Liverpool actually hold the record for winning this trophy, having done it seven times.

Kenny Dalglish is in his first final in his second stint as manager at the club and he will be most eager to win it. Dalglish was a part of a few of those seven previous wins.

Let's take a look at how those matches unfolded.   

No. 1: 1981

Even the final was given a replay during these times. West Ham were Liverpool's opponents in 1981. The match at Wembley ended 1-1, with a goal from Alan Kennedy of Liverpool cancelled out by Ray Stewart of West Ham from the penalty spot.

The replay was held at Villa Park, home ground for Aston Villa today. Liverpool made a comeback on April Fool's day to win the tie through goals from Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen after going behind to a Paul Goddard strike.

An interesting thing to note is that Liverpool played Manchester City in the semifinal that year, as they have done this season. The first leg was won by the Reds 1-0 at Manchester City. They drew the second leg 1-1 at home. This season the scoreline at home for Liverpool was 2-2 with the rest of the things being same. 

No. 2: 1982

Though many might not know of it, the 1982 League Cup final was packed with entertainment. Liverpool ran out as eventual winners against Tottenham Hotspur. The score line was 3-1 after extra time, but it took an equaliser from Ronnie Whelan in the 87th minute to force the tie into that added half-hour.

Tottenham took the lead through the finishing prowess of Scottish forward Steve Archibald in the 11th minute. Liverpool had to wait until the dying stages of normal time before Whelan ensured that they stayed in the match.

In the picture above, Ronnie Whelan celebrates one of the two goals he scored that day. Liverpool took the lead in added time through Ian Rush in the 111st minute. Ronnie wrapped things up at the end with his second  and Liverpool's third goal with barely a minute remaining.

No. 3: 1983

Three years consecutively in the League Cup final and three times winning it all. That is what Liverpool did in the 1980s, showcasing the domination of the club during that era. The final, though, was special for other reasons.

It was the last major final for legendary manager Bob Paisley. Thus, as you can see from the picture, he celebrated by collecting the trophy himself. This victory coincidentally was against Liverpool's present fiercest rivals, Manchester United.

The final was yet again forced into extra-time as the teams were tied at 1. Captain of Manchester United Norman Whiteside had given them the lead by scoring in the 12th minute. Our great full-back Alan Kennedy scored in the 75th minute to get us level.

The winner was grabbed by Ronnie Whelan, scoring in added time yet again in a league cup final. Whelan put the ball in the back of the net in the 98th minute to help his team to more silverware.  

No. 4: 1984

Another League Cup final for Liverpool and another trophy won. It became four consecutive League Cups in four years for Liverpool football club. All four occasions required a replay or extra time. The two teams contesting the final could never be separated after the normal 90 minutes during these years.

In this episode, Liverpool and Everton could not even break the deadlock after the first 90 minutes or even after extra time in the first tie. Thus, the match was replayed.

In the replay Liverpool captain Graeme Souness scored in the 21st minute to give the lead to his team. Liverpool held on and claimed the trophy at Maine Road, the former home ground of Manchester City where the replay had been played.   

No. 5: 1995

The 2001 FA Cup final played between Liverpool and Arsenal was known as the Michael Owen final. The League Cup final of 1995 is known by the name of another of our star players who left for Los Blancos (Real Madrid) from Liverpool.

That player is Steve McManaman. He scored twice on this day in the 37th and 68th minutes of the match. Alan Thompson scored in the 69th minute right after McManaman's second to give the trotters a lifeline. It proved to be of very little significance in the end as Liverpool bagged their fifth League Cup crown.

Liverpool played a 5-3-2 that day with wing-backs. Will Kenny Dalglish go with the same ploy this weekend? I  do not think so.

This was also the last appearance of Liverpool Football Club at the old Wembley Stadium.   

No. 6: 2001

Liverpool notched its sixth League Cup triumph in 2001 against Birmingham City. The match was held at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

The Reds took the lead in the 30th minute when captain Robbie Fowler scored. Resting on your laurels in never a good idea as Gerard Houllier's men found out. Not that they did not try to score, but the Liverpool players could not add to their one-goal lead.

As the closing stages of the match got near, Birmingham won a penalty. Darren Purse scored from the spot to level the scores in the 90th minute. Yes, it was yet another final for Liverpool in the League Cup not decided in normal time.

In extra time, no goals were scored and the match went into a penalty shootout. No replay this time.

In the shootout, Liverpool scored their first three spot kicks with substitutes Gary Mcallister, Nick Barmby and Christian Ziege scoring. Birmingham missed their first spot-kick when Martin Grainger failed to beat Sander Westerveld from 12 yards

The Blues scored their next three penalties through Darren Purse, Marcelo and Stan Lazaridis. Didi Hamann had missed Liverpool's fourth, which put a lot of pressure on captain Fowler to score the fifth for which he made no mistake. Bryan Hughes then converted for Birmingham to take the tie into sudden death.

The climax did not take long to unfold. Jamie Carragher scored the sixth spot kick and Andrew Johnson missed to start the celebrations for Liverpool. Besides his defending, this moment would be one that Jamie would be very proud of even today.        

No. 7: 2003

The seventh time that Liverpool lifted the League Cup was against Manchester United. This match was again staged at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, Wales, while Wembley was being renovated.

United might be Liverpool's fiercest rivals, but they offered very little on this day. The Reds beat United convincingly, 2-0.

The two players shown in the picture with the trophy were who scored that day. Steven Gerrard scored a wonder goal in the 39th minute to give Liverpool the lead. Michael Owen scored in the 86th minute to wrap things up. 

To This Sunday Then

Out of the five times that Liverpool have played the final at Wembley, only once have they won in normal time. In fact, two out of those five trophies weren't even lifted at Wembley.

In 1981, they were crowned champions at Villa Park, and in 1984 they celebrated at Maine Road, the old home for Manchester City.

This Sunday, Kenny Dalglish and his men will and should try their utmost to ensure that the match is entertaining, but not at the cost of the tension of their own supporters.

Hope you enjoyed reading.