The 2009 Football League Cup final was the final match of the 2008–09 Football League Cup, the 49th season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and The Football League. The match was played at Wembley Stadium on 1 March 2009, and was contested by Tottenham Hotspur, who won the competition in 2008, and Manchester United, who last won the competition in 2006. The two joint-top goalscorers played for each of the finalists. Roman Pavlyuchenko of Tottenham Hotspur, who scored in every match in which he played in the tournament up to the final, and Manchester United's Carlos Tevez; both players had six goals each.
Manchester United won 4–1 on penalties, after the match ended as a goalless draw in normal time. United converted all four of their penalties, while Tottenham missed two of their three. It was only the second time that the League Cup final had been decided by a penalty shoot-out.
The man of the match was Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster, who became the first goalkeeper since Jerzy Dudek in 2003 to win the Alan Hardaker Award.
Retrospectively, the result of this game would have significant implications for the following season's UEFA Europa League. In winning the tournament, the qualifying spot for the League Cup went to the seventh-placed team in the Premier League by default, as Manchester United would later win the League and therefore qualified for the UEFA Champions League. Fulham, who finished seventh in the league, went on to progress to the final of the 2009–10 Europa League. Had Tottenham won the League Cup, they would have qualified in Fulham's place.
Road to Wembley
Manchester UnitedRoundTottenham HotspurOpponentResultOpponentResultMiddlesbrough (H)3–1Third roundClubs competing in UEFA competitions receive a bye to the third roundNewcastle United (A)2–1Queens Park Rangers (H)1–0Fourth roundLiverpool (H)4–2Blackburn Rovers (H)5–3Fifth roundWatford (A)2–1Derby County0–1 (A)Semi-finalBurnley4–1 (H)4–2 (H)2–3 (A)Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregateTottenham Hotspur won 6–4 on aggregate
Match Team selection Sir Alex Ferguson promised before the game that he would give places in the Manchester United starting line-up to the young players who had played a part in getting them to the final, with Darron Gibson in the centre of midfield and Danny Welbeck up front. He also said he would make several changes from the team that drew away to Internazionale in the Champions League earlier in the week, citing the need to rotate players in the modern game. Goalkeeper Ben Foster, who had played in the fifth round against Blackburn Rovers and the second leg of the semi-final against Derby County, expressed a desire to play in the final as a way of making up for an injury-beset previous 12 months.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp named Heurelho Gomes as his goalkeeper for the final, despite the Brazilian having made several high-profile errors, as the club's number-one 'keeper, Carlo Cudicini, was cup-tied; Cudicini was signed from Chelsea during the January transfer window and had appeared for the Blues in the League Cup earlier in the season. Defender Jonathan Woodgate, who scored the winning goal in the 2008 final, suffered a head wound in a 2–1 win over Hull City the week before the game; he declared himself fit the next day, but was ultimately left out of the squad. Striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, however, was selected for the game, despite his earlier fears that he might miss out if Redknapp opted to play Darren Bent as a lone striker; in the end, Pavlyuchenko and Bent started together up front.
Details
GK 12 Ben FosterRB 22 John O'Shea CB 5 Rio Ferdinand (c)CB 23 Jonny EvansLB 3 Patrice EvraRM 7 Cristiano Ronaldo CM 28 Darron Gibson CM 18 Paul Scholes LM 17 NaniCF 19 Danny Welbeck CF 32 Carlos TevezSubstitutes:GK 29 Tomasz KuszczakDF 15 Nemanja Vidić DF 42 Richard EckersleyMF 8 Anderson MF 11 Ryan Giggs MF 13 Park Ji-sungMF 34 Rodrigo PossebonManager: Sir Alex Ferguson GK 1 Heurelho GomesRB 22 Vedran ĆorlukaCB 20 Michael DawsonCB 26 Ledley King (c)LB 32 Benoît Assou-EkottoRM 7 Aaron Lennon CM 8 Jermaine Jenas CM 4 Didier ZokoraLM 14 Luka ModrićCF 10 Darren BentCF 9 Roman Pavlyuchenko Substitutes:GK 27 Ben AlnwickDF 3 Gareth Bale DF 16 Chris GunterMF 5 David Bentley MF 6 Tom HuddlestoneMF 19 Adel TaarabtMF 24 Jamie O'Hara Manager: Harry Redknapp Man of the Match Ben Foster (Manchester United)
Assistant referees: Peter Kirkup (Northamptonshire) Andy Butler (Lancashire) Fourth official: Andre Marriner (West Midlands) Reserve assistant referee: Robert Pollock (Merseyside)Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.
Statistics Statistic Manchester United Tottenham HotspurTotal shots 23 12Shots on target 10 7Ball possession 53% 47%Corner kicks 9 4Fouls committed 12 16Offsides 2 2Yellow cards 3 0Red cards 0 0
References