Carling Cup Finale

[ianrush]

Liverpool v Chelsea

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Sunday, 27 February

The Final

Kick-off: 1500 GMT

Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent)

The first trophy of the English season is up for grabs on Sunday as Liverpool and Chelsea meet in the final of the Carling Cup at Cardiff.

Liverpool's Rafael Benitez and Chelsea's Jose Mourinho each have the chance to land some silverware in their first season in English football.

A Uefa Cup spot is up for grabs, which could yet prove vital for Liverpool.

The roof of the Millennium Stadium will be closed for the day, so the weather will not affect proceedings.

Liverpool welcome back captain Steven Gerrard after suspension while Fernando Morientes and Mauricio Pellegrino can play again after being cup-tied against Bayer Leverkusen.

Josemi is likely to miss out because of a groin injury while Xabi Alonso, Djibril Cisse and Florent Sinama-Pongolle are all long-term injury victims.

Chelsea's main injury doubt concerns defender William Gallas, who came close to missing the Champions League defeat at Barcelona with a groin injury.

But the good news for boss Jose Mourinho is that Damien Duff and Didier Drogba, who also had injuries going into the Barca game, have both been passed fit.

Mourinho will keep faith with the defence that played at the Nou Camp if Gallas passes a late fitness test, but if not Glen Johnson looks set to replace him, with Paulo Ferreira shifting to left-back.

Petr Cech will start in goal with Carlo Cudicini suspended, while Tiago could be rested in favour of Jiri Jarosik, who would find himself in a cup final within a month of moving to English football.

Wayne Bridge, Scott Parker, Robert Huth and Arjen Robben will all miss the final through injury.

Liverpool (from): Dudek, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Kewell, Gerrard, Hamann, Biscan, Riise, Luis Garcia, Pellegrino, Morientes, Baros, Nunez, Smicer, Carson, Warnock, Le Tallec.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Pidgeley, Ferreira, Johnson, Gallas, Terry, Carvalho, Nuno Morais, Lampard, Makelele, Tiago, Smertin, Geremi, Cole, Jarosik, Duff, Gudjohnsen, Drogba, Kezman.

KEY MATCH STATS

# LIVERPOOL and Chelsea meet for the 45th League Cup Final, the second in its current guise as the Carling Cup, and fifth to be staged at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. This is the sixth time that two teams from the top five of the highest League have contested the final.

# The Merseysiders are the most successful club in the competition, and are vying to win it for a record eighth occasion. They're appearing in their 10th League Cup final and are hoping to lift a major piece of silverware for the 42nd time in the club's history.

# The Reds stand fifth in the Premiership, still outside a Champions League qualifying spot. They were the only one of the four English clubs to win in the Champions League midweek. They will take a 3-1 first leg lead to Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday week vying for a place in the quarter-finals. Manager Rafael Benitez is hoping his side can carry forward that winning form to Cardiff, and clinch the fourth major honour in his managerial career. The 44 year old Spaniard has already won the Primera League twice and the Uefa Cup with Valencia. Sami Hyypia, Igor Biscan and Dietmar Hamann and aiming to pocket League Cup winners medals for the third time, equalling Bruce Grobbelaar's record for overseas players.

# CHELSEA head for the capital of Wales in the knowledge that a week is a long time in football. Last Sunday, they ran out at St James' Park still with unprecedented quadruple honours a possibility. Goalkeeper Carlo Cuducini saw red, the Londoners lost 1-0 to Newcastle and boss Jose Mourinho flew to Barcelona boasting that he had never lost two matches on the spin as a manager. Now he's in danger of losing three in a row, following Wednesday's controversial events in Spain, when Didier Drogba was harshly sent off and the Blues returned 2-1 down from the first leg of their last 16 Champions League tie. Mourinho is in a chase with his opposite number Rafel Benitez to decide which of the foreign managers will win the first domestic prize of the campaign, in their first season in charge of each club. The Londoners have already achieved the League double over Liverpool with Joe Cole scoring the only goal in both games.

Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool, 3 October 2004,

Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea, 1 January 2005,

# The Londoners are still well placed in pole position in the Premiership, and have won 31 and drawn seven of their 42 League and Cup matches this season, but half of their four defeats from this campaign have come in the last two outings. Since mid-December, Mourinho's side have won 12 of 16 matches. Clean sheets have been kept in 29 of their 42 games and 11 of the 31 victories have been by 1-0 margins.

# Chelsea are battling to lift the League Cup for the third time from their fourth appearance in the final. They're chasing a 10th major piece of silverware in the club's history, and their 42 year old Portuguese strategist is hoping to add to his five honours as a manager, having already won the Champions League, the Uefa Cup, two League titles and a domestic Cup with FC Porto.

Benitez targets winning mentality

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has highlighted the importance of a 'winning mentality' ahead of their Carling Cup Final clash with Chelsea.

"Since I've been here we've prepared videos of the celebrations after the Arsenal and Olympiakos victories," the Spaniard told the Liverpool Echo.

"I want them to remember how they felt when they won so they'll do everything they can to feel that way again.

"I'm sure other managers do the same," added Benitez.

"We also use images of Liverpool fans celebrating these moments so the players can see how important it is to the supporters for their side to play their best football."

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher is relishing the challenge of taking on Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium.

"I've been fortunate enough to play in a number of finals over the past few years and I can't wait for this game on Sunday," he told the club's website.

"People may mock the Carling Cup but at the end of the day there's a winners medal up for grabs.

"And you never know when you're going to play in your last final."

Mourinho keen to grab Carling Cup

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho insisted the Carling Cup is a trophy he wants to get his hands on.

Mourinho said: "Winning the Premiership or Champions League is more important but we won't turn any trophy down.

"I came to Chelsea because of ambition, to manage a big club with the chance to win trophies on a regular basis.

"We have a group of people so strong in spirit and united in ambition, little injuries and setbacks cannot knock us from our path."

Mourinho's Carling Cup ambition is echoed by assistant manager Steve Clarke.

Clarke added: "The Carling Cup is very important to us. We haven't won a trophy since 2000 so every competition we are in we have to try to win.

"I've noticed a difference about Jose's attitude towards the Carling Cup. He told the group that he expected us to go all the way in the competition.

"That was a shift from previous management.

"It is difficult for us to put out a weak team because if you look at our squad, they are all top internationals, so whatever team we put out is a strong one."

Come on feel the noise

By Chris Charles

Never mind the football, whose fans will make the most noise during Sunday's Carling Cup final?

Cardiff Council is monitoring the sound levels from the Liverpool and Chelsea ends to determine who has their shouting boots on.

Cup Sponsorship Manager Sam Ward said: "We're looking forward to a winning performance from the players and the fans and the loudest ever final staged at the Millennium Stadium."

But will it be the 'Cockneys' or the Scousers who win the day? We analyse their chances.

CHELSEA FANS

They see themselves as...the Kings of cool, a diamond-encrusted juggernaut with a divine right to steamroll their way through the Premiership while playing an exquisite brand of one-touch football.

Everyone else sees them as...Harry Enfield's disagreeable 'Loadsamoney' character, decidely dull and a bankruptcy case waiting to happen (hopefully).

Most famous song: "Ten men went to mow, went to mow a meadow, 10 men and their dog, Spot, went to mow a meadow."

Harry Enfield as 'Loadsamoney'

A typical Chelsea fan

Most famous retort: "Ten men went to lift, went to lift Frank Lampard, ten men and their dumper truck went to lift Frank Lampard."

Second most famous song: "We'll keep the blue flag flying high."

Second most famous retort: "We'll stick the blue flag up your a***!"

Most amusing Chelsea song: (When Frank Leboeuf informed fans he'd rather they didn't use bad language in their tribute to him):

"He's here, he's there, we're not allowed to swear - Frank Leboeuf, Frank Leboeuf."

LIVERPOOL FANS

Like to see themselves as...still the world's best football team, despite not winning the European Cup for 21 years, cheeky, chirpy, loveable.

Everyone else sees them as...an average Premiership team who have not won the European Cup for 21 years and are currently only the second best side in Liverpool.

Most famous song: "Walk on...walk on - you'll never walk alone."

Harry Enfield's 'Scousers'

Calm down, they're not going!

Most famous retort: "Sign on, sign on - You'll never get a job" (met with ironic rounds of applause from Liverpool fans).

Second most famous song: "Liiiiiii-ver-pool, Liiiiiii-ver-pool!"

Second most famous retort: "Liiiiii-ver-pool, won **** all!"

Most amusing Liverpool song: (to West Ham fans):

"You've got Di Canio/We've got your stereos."

Second most amusing Liverpool song: "Don't blame it on the Biscan, Don't blame it on the Hamann, Don't blame it on the Finnan, Blame it on Traore. He just can't, He just can't, He just can't control his feet."

VERDICT

Liverpool nick it on away goals, courtesy of their superior humour - but will they lift the roof off on Sunday?

Quelle : bbc

Morientes aims to give Chelsea the blues again

Liverpool's Spanish striker says his match-winning goals against the Londoners last season will add to their doubts after difficult week

Dominic Fifield

Saturday February 26, 2005

The Guardian

A week ago it would have rung as desperately misplaced optimism verging on the ludicrous, but when Fernando Morientes conjured a statement of fact at Anfield yesterday hope flared in Liverpool. "Chelsea are not invincible," said the striker, his words first trilled in Spanish then echoed in translation. "They're a good side, sure, but unbeatable? No. We have to believe that."

The Merseysiders will share that conviction in Cardiff tomorrow with the striker in their ranks. Such is the impenetrable confidence generated by Jose Mourinho within his Chelsea squad that, even after their hellish week that was, the Premiership leaders will still roar their way to the Millennium Stadium confident of steamrolling anyone who dares stand in the way of a first trophy under the Portuguese. Anyone, perhaps, but Morientes.

It is some 10 months now since the Spaniard plundered home and away against the Londoners, his second goal of the tie completing an unlikely comeback at Stamford Bridge to block Claudio Ranieri's route to the Champions League final. The continent's most fancied sides - from Milan to Real Madrid, Juventus to Arsenal - had all succumbed apparently leaving Chelsea's passage to Gelsenkirchen enticingly open. Monaco, unfancied yet supremely resilient, blocked that path with Morientes, loaned from Real, their inspiration.

The goal he ripped beyond Marco Ambrosio at Stade Louis II established a 3-1 advantage from the first leg. Briefly Chelsea edged in front in the return - if only on away goals - before the Monegasques rallied and Morientes, on the hour mark, hauled them level. John Terry featured in both those matches, William Gallas in one. Neither will have forgotten how that 5-3 aggregate defeat tainted their season.

Now, after defeats this week at Newcastle and Barcelona hinted at repeat disappointment, Chelsea's players will stare across the turf in the Welsh capital at the man who jettisoned their hopes last term. Some, perhaps even Terry, will do well to suppress a shiver. "I have happy memories of Chelsea and those two games are still so fresh in my mind," said Morientes, who has been a Liverpool player for barely six weeks. "What I did over those two games can have a significance in this match because players do not forget what others do to them.

"It is an encouragement when you do well against someone in the past, then come up against them again, but you must temper that with the fact that Chelsea are a tremendous side. Their defensive record this season is magnificent - they are not used to letting in goals - but I found a way through them last season. That can have an influence on things.

"What has happened this week has shown that Chelsea can be beaten but I know they will be right on their game. If anything I would have preferred them to have got a better result in Barcelona because, maybe, they would have approached the game in a slightly more relaxed manner. Instead you will see a Chelsea side really firing and wanting to make amends. But this is a one-off occasion, not a normal Premiership game. If we concentrate as best we can I think we have a very good chance of winning the match."

Morientes is not accustomed to choking on the biggest stage. This will be the 28-year-old's 17th final of his career, those appearances having already yielded three European Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, two InterContinental Cups, three Spanish Cups and a European Super Cup. The four losers' medals are forgotten amid the silverware, that roll of honour also ignoring the two Spanish titles plundered whilst at Real.

If his English was adequate enough to allow him to impart his thoughts to his non-Spanish team-mates, he could offer those making their first final appearance tomorrow an invaluable insight into their day ahead. "When I played my first finals as a young player I was far more nervous than in a league game," he said. "You can get to the 65th or the 70th minute and there is nothing left in your legs. The stress of the occasion and the build-up has taken it out of you. But it's not necessarily a bad thing for nerves to play a part. I'll be nervous this time too.

"The right amount of nerves can help you feel sharp for the game, focusing the mind on the task in hand. It is the second final I have played outside Real Madrid. That itself makes it a special moment for me. I am trying to establish myself amongst new team-mates, but I'd tell them to enjoy it. If you win it is fantastic. If you lose you have to realise there are other challenges ahead and it is not the end of the world. It's about relaxing.

"We can't worry too much about Chelsea. Besides, I am more concerned as to which Liverpool team turns up on the day. We want the Liverpool that played so well against Bayer Leverkusen and not the Liverpool that lost at Birmingham. I cannot put my finger on why we are so inconsistent. We often follow two wins with a defeat, then three more with another loss. That is not the ideal situation. Really you want a gradual progression, a steady improvement towards consistency. But we are hoping that it is Liverpool's good face which turns up on Sunday."

Morientes might have been lining up against Rafael Benítez had tentative enquires from Chelsea representatives as to his availability at Real firmed up into a bid to take him from the Bernabéu to Stamford Bridge. Instead his frustration at the lack of opportunities in the Spanish capital prompted a £6.3m move to Anfield last month, with two goals in six appearances to date.

Liverpool may need more tomorrow if they are to claim their eighth League Cup with Mourinho, whose Porto side denied Morientes a fourth European Cup at the last in Germany, standing in their way. "I am a big admirer of him and the players I have spoken to about him all speak highly about how he works," said the Spaniard. "Looking in from the outside he has achieved a lot for such a young manager. He has done already what many managers can only dream about achieving in their whole careers. The standing he has is incredible.

"But this is about Liverpool. When I came here I knew I would get the opportunity to appear in major finals and I am proud and privileged to have this chance so soon. Great sides show their worth in really important matches. That is what I'm hoping for. A final is a chance for good sides to show their quality and true values on the biggest stage. That is what we must do.

"Will I score? Sometimes, as soon as you set foot on the pitch for the warm-up, you kind of know. You have a feeling in the warm-up that things are going to go well and click into place. Watch me in the warm-up. If I am smiling . . ." Chelsea will know exactly what to expect.

We never lose in Anfield South !

[themanwho]

Chelsea

Cech

Ferreira - Terry - Carvalho - Gallas

Lampard, Makelele, Jarosik

Duff - Drogba - Cole

---------

Morientes

Kewell

Riise - Gerrard - Hamann - Luis Garcia

Traore - Hyypia - Carragher - Finnan

Dudek

Liverpool

bearbeitet 27. Februar 2005 von tmNh

[themanwho]

1' Minute - 1:0 für Liverpool

Riise mit einem Volley-Kracher nach Flanke von Morientes - Cech chancenlos. Ganze 43 Sekunden hats gedauert

[Zehner]

1:0 für Liverpool.

Flanke von Morientes- Riise nimmt den Ball direkt aus der Luft und schließt mit einem perfekten Schuss ins lange Eck ab

bearbeitet 27. Februar 2005 von Ronaldinho10

[Violette Bastion]

Was für ein Tor für Liverpool.

Heut wird Chelsea zurechtgestutzt!

[Starostyak]

Chelsea wird doch nicht etwa gewaltig schwächeln?

[Starostyak]

Mourinho is echt der arroganteste Trainer den's gibt...aber trotzdem irgendwie geil die Aktion, die Liverpool-Fans im Hintergrund hätten ihn wohl am liebsten zerfleischt

[Violette Bastion]

Mein Gott,der Chelsea Coach ist vielleicht ein Volltrottl.Provoziert die Fans der Reds auch noch nach diesem unglücklichen Ausgleich Jetzt wird er von der Bank verwiesen

Weg mit dem Kasperl

[herr_obskur]

dumm - dümmer - mourinho

[Marcelinho]

was hatta gemacht?

[Michi78]

packs ned. dsf zeigt die verlängerung nicht mehr. san die deppat!

[Starostyak]

was hatta gemacht?

Gerrard hat den Ball ins eigene Tor geköpfelt, Mourinho beim Jubel Richtung Liverpool-Fans nur den Zeigefinger auf die Lippen gelegt - die sind hinter ihm fast ausgezuckt

DSF is wohl nicht ganz dicht...zweite Liga statt hochklassigem englischen Fussball...

[Wuifal]

Naja, wir haben eh nichts versäumt, Endstand 3:2 für Chelsea :aaarrrggghhh:

[Sportsfreund]

Naja, wir haben eh nichts versäumt, Endstand 3:2 für Chelsea :aaarrrggghhh:

JAAAAAAAAA! - Der erste Titel der Saison und außerdem ist die Negativserie gestoppt.

[ans]

Hätte es Rafael Benitez und Liverpool gegönnt und nicht Mr. Arrogant Jose Mourinho. ("It's just one more. I had a few before this,"). Irgendwie mausert er sich für mich immer mehr zum unbeliebtesten Trainer überhaupt.