2009 Football League Cup final

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 shootout.

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
As both sides were involved in European football during the 2008–09 season, they were given byes to the third round of the competition. There, they were both drawn against sides from North East England, with Manchester United hosting Middlesbrough, while Tottenham had to travel to Newcastle United. Manchester United won their tie 3–1, but the highlight of the match was the sending-off of Middlesbrough defender Emmanuel Pogatetz for a dangerous, studs-up tackle on Rodrigo Possebon that left the Brazilian midfielder with what was initially thought to be a broken leg. Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United the lead in the match, but Adam Johnson equalised for Middlesbrough before Pogatetz's red card; Manchester United then made their numerical advantage count with goals from Ryan Giggs and Nani sealing the win in the last 11 minutes. Meanwhile, Tottenham began the defence of their League Cup title with victory over Newcastle; second-half goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jamie O'Hara gave Tottenham the lead, before a last-minute consolation goal from Michael Owen for the home side.

Both sides were drawn at home in the fourth round, with Manchester United playing Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham taking on Liverpool. A penalty from Carlos Tevez was required to break the deadlock between Manchester United and QPR, after Danny Welbeck was fouled in the penalty area by Peter Ramage. Tottenham had an easier time of it with their match against Liverpool, winning 4–2. Pavlyuchenko and Fraizer Campbell gave Spurs a 3–0 lead in the seven minutes before half-time; Damien Plessis pulled a goal back for Liverpool shortly after the break, but Pavlyuchenko restored Tottenham's lead with his second of the game in the 52nd minute. Sami Hyypiä scored Liverpool's other goal.

Tevez was again Manchester United's star player in the fifth round, as he scored four goals to give his side a 5–3 win at home to Blackburn Rovers. The Argentine striker opened the scoring in the 36th minute, and Nani doubled Manchester United's lead four minutes later. Benni McCarthy halved Blackburn's deficit three minutes after the break, but two more for Tevez with less than 10 minutes played in the half gave him his first Manchester United hat-trick. Goals from Matt Derbyshire and McCarthy in the last six minutes reduced the margin to a single goal, but Tevez's fourth completed United's victory. Tottenham had to come from behind in their match away to Watford, but Pavlyuchenko's penalty on the stroke of half-time and Darren Bent's 76th-minute winner cancelled out Tamás Priskin's early goal to send Tottenham through to the semi-finals. -->

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.

Statistics
Source: ESPN