# 2002 Football League Cup final

The 2002 Football League Cup Final was played between Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Sunday, 24 February 2002. Blackburn won the match 2–1 in what was the club's first appearance in the competition's final.
Tottenham were forced to produce a one-off yellow shirt for the final when The Football League decided both of their home and away strips, respectively white and light blue, clashed with Blackburn's blue-and-white home strip.
Blackburn were without defender Craig Short and midfielders Gary Flitcroft and Tugay Kerimoğlu due to suspension. This led to 38 year-old veteran striker Mark Hughes starting in central midfield. Blackburn were also without injured back-up goalkeeper Alan Kelly and cup-tied right-back Lucas Neill.
Blackburn opened the scoring with a goal from Matt Jansen, but Christian Ziege soon equalised for Spurs. Andy Cole scored the winner in the 68th minute with a typical instinctive strike after mistakes in the Spurs defence, mainly from Ledley King. Les Ferdinand could have made the match square after a close one-on-one chance with Friedel, but failed to make anything of it. In the final minute Teddy Sheringham had a claim for a penalty turned down by referee Graham Poll.

## Road to Cardiff

Blackburn Rovers :
| Round 2 | Blackburn | 2–0 | Oldham |
| Round 3 | Blackburn | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Middlesbrough |
| Round 4 | Blackburn | 2–0 | Manchester City |
| Quarter-final | Blackburn | 4–0 | Arsenal |
| Semi-final (1st leg) | Sheffield Wednesday | 1–2 | Blackburn |
| Semi-final (2nd leg) | Blackburn | 4–2 | Sheffield Wednesday |
| Note: | (Blackburn won 6–3 on aggregate) | (Blackburn won 6–3 on aggregate) | (Blackburn won 6–3 on aggregate) |
Tottenham Hotspur :
| Round 2 | Tottenham | 2–0 | Torquay |
| Round 3 | Tranmere | 0–4 | Tottenham |
| Round 4 | Fulham | 1–2 | Tottenham |
| Quarter-final | Tottenham | 6–0 | Bolton |
| Semi-final (1st leg) | Chelsea | 2–1 | Tottenham |
| Semi-final (2nd leg) | Tottenham | 5–1 | Chelsea |
| Note: | (Tottenham won 6–3 on aggregate) | (Tottenham won 6–3 on aggregate) | (Tottenham won 6–3 on aggregate) |

## Match
### Details

| Blackburn Rovers | Tottenham Hotspur |
| GK | 1 | Brad Friedel |
| RB | 28 | Martin Taylor |
| CB | 4 | Henning Berg (c) |
| CB | 14 | Nils-Eric Johansson |
| LB | 5 | Stig Inge Bjørnebye |
| RM | 18 | Keith Gillespie | 75' |
| CM | 12 | Mark Hughes |
| CM | 8 | David Dunn |
| LM | 11 | Damien Duff |
| CF | 9 | Andy Cole |
| CF | 10 | Matt Jansen | 74' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 27 | Alan Miller |
| DF | 2 | John Curtis |
| MF | 15 | Craig Hignett | 75' |
| MF | 16 | Alan Mahon |
| FW | 17 | Yordi | 74' |
| Manager: ||
| Graeme Souness ||
| GK | 1 | Neil Sullivan |
| RWB | 3 | Mauricio Taricco | 79' |
| CB | 26 | Ledley King |
| CB | 6 | Chris Perry |
| CB | 18 | Ben Thatcher |
| LWB | 23 | Christian Ziege |
| CM | 7 | Darren Anderton |
| CM | 8 | Tim Sherwood |
| AM | 14 | Gustavo Poyet | 84' |
| CF | 10 | Teddy Sheringham (c) |
| CF | 9 | Les Ferdinand |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 13 | Kasey Keller |
| DF | 30 | Anthony Gardner |
| MF | 29 | Simon Davies | 79' |
| FW | 11 | Serhii Rebrov |
| FW | 16 | Steffen Iversen | 84' |
| Manager: ||
| Glenn Hoddle ||
| Man of the match Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers) | Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions |