# 1982 Football League Cup final

The 1982 Football League Cup Final was a football match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur on 13 March 1982 at Wembley Stadium. It was the final match of the 1981–82 Football League Cup, the 22nd staging of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in The Football League. Liverpool were the reigning champions and appearing in their third final. This was Tottenham's third final, having won their previous two appearances in 1971 and 1973.
Both teams entered the competition in the second round. Liverpool's matches were generally comfortable victories. They beat Middlesbrough 4–1 in the third round, but two of their ties went to a replay. Tottenham's matches were close affairs, the only match they won by more than one goal was their 2–0 victory against Wrexham in the third round, although they did not concede a single goal en route to the final.
Watched by a crowd of 100,000, Tottenham opened the scoring in the 11th minute when striker Steve Archibald scored. Tottenham maintained their lead until the 87th minute, when midfielder Ronnie Whelan equalised for Liverpool. With the scores level after 90 minutes the match went to extra time. Whelan scored again in the 111th minute to give Liverpool the lead and striker Ian Rush scored in the 119th minute to secure a 3–1 victory for Liverpool. It was their second League Cup victory and second in succession. The year before, Ray Clemence played for Liverpool, only to be on the losing side against his former team in 1982.

## Route to the final

| Liverpool | Liverpool | Round | Tottenham Hotspur | Tottenham Hotspur |
| Exeter City H 5–0 | Rush 15', 67', McDermott 27' Dalglish 37', Whelan 68' | Second Round, First Leg | Manchester United H 1–0 | Archibald |
| Exeter City A 6–0 | Rush 15', 78', Dalglish 23', Neal 34', Sheedy 53', Mather og 80' | Second Round, Second Leg | Manchester United A 1–0 | Hazard |
| Middlesbrough H 4–1 | Sheedy 29', Rush 64', Johnson 74', 80' | Third Round | Wrexham H 2–0 | Hughton, Hoddle |
| Arsenal A 0–0 | | Fourth Round | Fulham H 1–0 | Hazard |
| Arsenal H 3–0 (aet) | Johnston 95', McDermott 101' (pen), Dalglish 108' | Replay | |
| Barnsley H 0–0 | | Fifth Round | Nottingham Forest H 1–0 | Ardiles |
| Barnsley H 3–1 | Souness 37', Johnson 81', Dalglish 89' | Replay | |
| Ipswich Town A 2–0 | McDermott 47', Rush 49' | Semi-finals, First Leg | West Bromwich Albion A 0–0 | |
| Ipswich Town H 2–2 | Rush 26', Dalglish 47' | Semi-finals, Second Leg | West Bromwich Albion H 1–0 | Hazard |

## Pre-match

Both teams were playing in the First Division, English football's top division at the time. At the start of the day of the final, Liverpool were in 4th position and Spurs in 7th.

## Match
### Details

| Liverpool | Tottenham Hotspur |
Bruce Grobbelaar :
| RB | 2 | Phil Neal |
| CB | 3 | Mark Lawrenson |
| LB | 4 | Alan Kennedy |
| LM | 5 | Ronnie Whelan |
| CB | 6 | Phil Thompson |
| CF | 7 | Kenny Dalglish |
| RM | 8 | Sammy Lee |
| CF | 9 | Ian Rush |
| CM | 10 | Terry McDermott |
| CM | 11 | Graeme Souness (c) |
| Substitute: ||||
| | 12 | David Johnson |
| Manager: ||||
| Bob Paisley ||||
Ray Clemence :
| LB | 2 | Chris Hughton |
| CB | 3 | Paul Miller |
| CB | 4 | Paul Price |
| RM | 5 | Micky Hazard |
| RB | 6 | Steve Perryman (c) |
| CM | 7 | Osvaldo Ardiles |
| CF | 8 | Steve Archibald |
| LM | 9 | Tony Galvin |
| CM | 10 | Glenn Hoddle |
| CF | 11 | Garth Crooks |
| Substitute: ||||
| MF | 12 | Ricardo Villa |
| Manager: ||||
| Keith Burkinshaw ||||

## Post-match

After their victory in the League Cup, Liverpool went to to win the First Division title, finishing four points ahead of runners-up Ipswich Town. Tottenham finished the season in 4th place and beat Queen's Park Rangers in a replay to win the 1982 FA Cup final.