2008 Football League Cup Final

The 2008 Carling Cup Final was a football match played on 24 February 2008. It was the first League Cup Final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, and the first to be played in England since the old Wembley was demolished in 2000. The defending champions were Chelsea, who beat Arsenal in the 2007 Final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. The final was contested by Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Arsenal 6–2 on aggregate in the semi-final, and Chelsea, who beat Everton 3–1 on aggregate. Tottenham Hotspur defeated Chelsea 2–1, after extra time, winning their first trophy for 9 years.
Chelsea took the lead in the 37th minute through a Didier Drogba free kick. This goal made Drogba the first player to score in three League Cup Finals, having also done so in 2005 and 2007. A Wayne Bridge handball gave Tottenham a 68th-minute penalty, and Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov converted from the spot. Three minutes into extra time, Jonathan Woodgate headed a Jermaine Jenas free kick onto Petr Čech, who in turn pushed it straight back onto Woodgate's head to score the winning goal.
The win was an important one for Tottenham as they secured UEFA Cup qualification for the following season, something they would not have achieved in the Premier League, as they finished 11th. For Chelsea, it was the second of four competitions in which they would finish as runners-up that season, after they lost to Manchester United in the Community Shield and ended up finishing as runners-up to the same team in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
==Match details==
 
{| style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"	CHELSEA: 	CHELSEA: 	CHELSEA: 	CHELSEA:
 	 	 	 	
GK 	1 	Petr Čech 	 	
RB 	35 	Juliano Belletti 	 	
CB 	26 	John Terry 	 	
CB 	6 	Ricardo Carvalho 	 	
LB 	18 	Wayne Bridge 	 	
DM 	12 	Mikel Jon Obi 	 	
CM 	8 	Frank Lampard 	 	
CM 	5 	Michael Essien 	 	
RW 	24 	Shaun Wright-Phillips	 	
CF 	11 	Didier Drogba 	 	
LW 	39 	Nicolas Anelka 	 	
Substitutes:	Substitutes:	Substitutes: 	 	
GK 	23 	Carlo Cudicini 	 	
DF 	33 	Alex 	 	
MF 	13 	Michael Ballack 	 	
MF 	10 	Joe Cole 	 	
FW 	21 	Salomon Kalou 	 	
Manager: 	Manager: 	Manager: 	 	
Avram Grant 	Avram Grant 	Avram Grant 	Avram Grant	
MATCH OFFICIALS
*Assistant referees:
**Andrew Garratt (West Midlands)
**Martin Yerby (Kent)
*Fourth official: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
*Reserve assistant referee: David Bryan (Lincolnshire)	
MATCH RULES
*90 minutes.
*30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
*Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
*Five named substitutes.
*Maximum of three substitutions.
==Notes==
*Didier Drogba's goal made him the all-time leading scorer in League Cup Finals with four. He also became the first player to score in three League Cup finals and the first to score in three consecutive English domestic cup finals.
==Road to Wembley==
===Chelsea===
{|width=100%
|width=50% valign=top|
Round 3 	Hull City 	0–4 	Chelsea 	
Round 4 	Chelsea 	4–3 	Leicester City 	
Round 5 	Chelsea 	2–0 	Liverpool 	
Semi-final (1st leg)	Chelsea 	2–1 	Everton 	
Semi-final (2nd leg)	Everton 	0–1 	Chelsea 	
  	(Chelsea won 3–1 on aggregate)	(Chelsea won 3–1 on aggregate)	(Chelsea won 3–1 on aggregate)	(Chelsea won 3–1 on aggregate)
===Tottenham Hotspur===
{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"	 	 	 	
Round 3 	Tottenham Hotspur 	2–0 	Middlesbrough 	
Round 4 	Tottenham Hotspur 	2–0 	Blackpool 	
Round 5 	Manchester City 	0–2 	Tottenham Hotspur 	
Semi-final (1st leg)	Arsenal 	1–1 	Tottenham Hotspur 	
Semi-final (2nd leg)	Tottenham Hotspur 	5–1 	Arsenal 	
  	(Tottenham Hotspur won 6–2 on aggregate)	(Tottenham Hotspur won 6–2 on aggregate)	(Tottenham Hotspur won 6–2 on aggregate)	(Tottenham Hotspur won 6–2 on aggregate)
==References==
Category:Football League Cup Finals