User:El Pollo Diablo/League Cup 2003-04

The Carling Cup 2004-05 was the 45th staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling.

The competition began in August 2004 and ended with the final on February 25, 2005. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hosted the final match, as it has done since 2001, with the completion of the new Wembley Stadium still several years away.

The winners were Chelsea, beating Liverpool in the final 3-2 after extra-time thanks to goals from Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman in extra-time after the game had finished 1-1.

First Round
70 of the 72 Football League clubs compete from the First Round. Each section is divided equally into a pot of seeded clubs and a pot of unseeded clubs. Clubs' rankings depend upon their finishing position in the 2003–04 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2003, Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, were the top seeds, and the clubs newly-promoted to the Football League, Barnet and Carlisle United, were bottom seeds.


 * On 28 June 2004 seeded clubs and unseeded clubs were paired off to create the first round draw.
 * Matches occurred on 22, 23 and 24 August 2005.
 * Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes.
 * A penalty shoot-out took place if the scores were level after extra time.

Second Round
The 36 winners from the First Round joined the 12 Premier League clubs not participating in European competition in Round Two. The draw was made on 27 August. The matches occurred on 20 and 21 September.

Third Round
The 24 winners from the Second Round joined the eight Premier League clubs participating in European competition in Round Three. The draw was made on 24 September. Matches were played on 25 and 26 October.

Liverpool were surprisingly knocked out by Crystal Palace, 2-1.

Fourth Round
The draw for the Fourth Round was made on 29 October 2005 and matches were played on 29 and 30 November. Doncaster caused the shock of the round, beating Aston Villa 3-0.

Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter finals was made on 3 December 2005 and matches were played on 20 and 21 December. The only non-Premier League club, Doncaster Rovers gave Arsenal a scare by drawing 2-2 after extra-time but Arsenal made it through 3-1 on penalties

1 Score after 90 minutes

Semi-finals
The semi-final draw was made in December 2005 after the conclusion of the quarter finals. Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The ties were played in the weeks beginning 9 January and 23 January 2006.

Second leg
''Score level at 2-2 on aggregate. Wigan win on away goals rule.''

Manchester United win 3–2 on aggregate