FIVE OF THE BEST..Carling Cup Final moments

Liverpool 2-3 Chelsea (2005) Containing a famous tactical battle between two great managers, Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho, along with two fantastic squads full of talent, the 2005 final was a great encounter which ran deep into extra time. John Arne Riise opened the scoring within two minutes, smashing yet another Carling Cup final record. It took until the 80th minute for Chelsea to pull one back, the unfortunate Steven Gerrard heading into his own goal, resulting in Mourinho being sent to the stands for a gesture towards the Liverpool faithful. As the game progressed into extra time, Didier Drogba and Mateja Kežman propelled Chelsea into a 1-3 lead, followed by Antonio Núñez heading home for the Reds one minute later, his only goal in his short spell at the club. However, it was only a mere consolation, as Chelsea clinched the cup.



Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal (2007) The 2007 final was certainly one for the record books. It was the first all-London final in League Cup history, Theo Walcott scored his first ever goal for Arsenal, followed by a Didier Drogba brace, including the 84th minute winner, taking the front man’s tally to 28 for the season, his own personal record in English football. If that wasn’t enough, it was the final match before switching to the new Wembley and the only final at the Millennium Stadium to be played with the roof open. With the game having 2,000 delayed fans due to train services, three red cards, seven yellow cards, 13 minutes of stoppage time and some good old fashioned celery throwing from the Chelsea fans, it’s hard to think what this match didn’t have.



Chelsea 1-2 Tottenham (2008) Moving on to 2008, we had another three goal score line. It was a landmark occasion, with it being the first Carling Cup final at the new Wembley stadium, the first final held in England in eight years, and Chelsea looking to defend their title. They took the lead in the 37th minute through a Didier Drogba free kick, who became the only player in the cup’s history to score in three separate finals. Tottenham then followed up with a 67th minute penalty converted by Ditmar Berbatov, before Jonathan Woodgate headed Spurs home three minutes into extra time. Many classed this as a shock result considering Juande Ramos’ men finished 11th in the domestic campaign, clinching UEFA cup qualification from absolutely no where for his team.



Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester United (2010) In 2010, we saw the 50th season of the Carling Cup come to its conclusion. Villa took the lead in the 5th minute with a James Milner penalty kick, only to be cancelled out by the experienced Michael Owen seven minutes later. After half time, Wayne Rooney, having replaced the injured Michael Owen just before half time, fired home 16 minutes from time to give the Red Devils a hard fought victory. Having beaten Tottenham Hotspur in the previous year’s final, Fergie’s men became the first team to retain the Carling Cup title since Nottingham Forest in 1990, yet another feat for the Scotsman.



Arsenal 1-2 Birmingham City (2011) The 2011 final proved to be one of the more entertaining battles in recent Carling Cup memory. Within the first two minutes of the match, Lee Bowyer was involved in a contentious decision with the referee when Wojciech Szczęsny took him down in the box, which would have resulted in a penalty kick and most likely a red card had he not been flagged offside, a decision which proved to be incorrect. Birmingham took the lead on 26 minutes through a Nikola Žigić header, only to be cancelled out 11 minutes later by a Robin Van Persie volley. On 83 minutes, Obafemi Martins was brought on, and six minutes later he managed to bag the winner after a mix-up between Szczęsny and Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny. Ben Foster grabbed the man of the match award, the only player to do so on two separate occasions. It was yet another shock result in the cups long history. Many more to come, we hope!