2001 Football League Cup Final

Event

2000–01 Football League Cup

Liverpool	Birmingham City

1	1

After extra time; Liverpool won 5–4 on penalties

Date

25 February 2001

Venue

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Man of the Match

Robbie Fowler^[1] (Liverpool)

Referee

David Elleray (Harrow)^[2]

Attendance

73,500

The 2001 Football League Cup Final was a football match played between Liverpool and Birmingham City at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Sunday 25 February 2001. Liverpool won the match 5–4 on penalties after 90 minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra time could not split the two sides.^[2]

Liverpool opened the scoring with a 25-yard long range shot from Robbie Fowler in the 30th minute and appeared to be heading for a win in normal time until Birmingham equalised in injury-time with a penalty from Darren Purse, after Martin O'Connor was brought down by Stéphane Henchoz. Birmingham thought they had a valid claim for a second penalty in extra time, only for referee David Elleray to turn it down (replays indicated that the tackle was in fact perfectly timed, taking the ball just before the man), taking the game to a penalty shootout, the first such penalty shootout in a major English domestic cup final (excluding Charity Shield matches).

The victory was Liverpool's first major trophy in 6 years, since winning the same competition in 1995. The club would also go on to win the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup in a unique treble of trophies in 2001.

Road to Cardiff

**Liverpool**
Round 3^[3]	Liverpool	2–1	Chelsea
Round 4	Stoke City	0–8	Liverpool
Quarter-final	Liverpool	3–0	Fulham
Semi-final (1st leg)	Crystal Palace	2–1	Liverpool
Semi-final (2nd leg)	Liverpool	5–0	Crystal Palace
Note:	(Liverpool won 6–2 on aggregate)

**Birmingham City**
Round 1 (1st leg)	Southend United	0–5	Birmingham City
Round 1 (2nd leg)	Birmingham City	0–0	Southend United
Note:	(Birmingham City won 5–0 on aggregate)
Round 2 (1st leg)	Wycombe Wanderers	3–4	Birmingham City
Round 2 (2nd leg)	Birmingham City	1–0	Wycombe Wanderers
Note:	(Birmingham City won 5–3 on aggregate)
Round 3	Tottenham Hotspur	1–3	Birmingham City
Round 4	Birmingham City	2–1	Newcastle United
Quarter-final	Birmingham City	2–0	Sheffield Wednesday
Semi-final (1st leg)	Ipswich Town	1–0	Birmingham City
Semi-final (2nd leg)	Birmingham City	4–1	Ipswich Town
Note:	(Birmingham City won 4–2 on aggregate)

Match

Details

Liverpool v Birmingham City

25 February 2001
15:00 GMT

Liverpool	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Birmingham City
Fowler 30'	Report	Purse 90' (pen.)
	Penalties
McAllister Barmby Ziege Hamann Fowler Carragher	5–4	Grainger Purse Marcelo Lazaridis Hughes A. Johnson

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 73,500
Referee: David Elleray (London)^[2]

Liverpool

Birmingham City



GK	1	Sander Westerveld
RB	6	Markus Babbel
CB	2	Stéphane Henchoz	109'
CB	12	Sami Hyypiä
LB	23	Jamie Carragher
RM	17	Steven Gerrard		78'
CM	16	Dietmar Hamann	108'
CM	25	Igor Bišćan		96'
LM	7	Vladimír Šmicer		83'
CF	8	Emile Heskey
CF	9	Robbie Fowler (c)
Substitutes:
GK	19	Pegguy Arphexad
DF	3	Christian Ziege		96'
MF	20	Nick Barmby		83'
MF	21	Gary McAllister		78'
FW	10	Michael Owen
Manager:
Gérard Houllier



GK	1	Ian Bennett
RB	2	Nicky Eaden
CB	5	Darren Purse
CB	17	Michael Johnson
LB	3	Martin Grainger
RM	7	Jon McCarthy
CM	32	Danny Sonner	71'
CM	12	Martin O'Connor
LM	11	Stan Lazaridis
CF	9	Geoff Horsfield	80'
CF	24	Dele Adebola	45'
Substitutes:
GK	13	Kevin Poole
DF	6	David Holdsworth
MF	10	Bryan Hughes	71'
FW	8	Marcelo	80'
FW	19	Andrew Johnson	45'
Manager:
Trevor Francis

Man of the match
Robbie Fowler (Liverpool)^[1]

Match rules

90 minutes.
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
Penalty shootout if scores still level.
Five named substitutes.
Maximum of three substitutions.

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 "Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners". The Football League. 26 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Blues shot down as Liverpool lift cup". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 25 February 2001. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
↑ Clubs in the Premier League receive a bye to the second or third round, depending on whether or not they had qualified for European competition or not

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