2009 Football League Cup final

2009 Football League Cup final
Event2008–09 Football League Cup
Manchester United Tottenham Hotspur
0 0
After extra time
Manchester United won 4–1 on penalties
Date1 March 2009
VenueWembley Stadium, London
Man of the MatchBen Foster (Manchester United)[1]
RefereeChris Foy (Merseyside)
Attendance88,217
WeatherMostly cloudy
11 °C (52 °F)[2]
← 2008
2010 →

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,[3] 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.[4]

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.[5]

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.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Man of match was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Weather History for London, United Kingdom". wunderground.com. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Burnley face holders Spurs in cup". BBC Sport. 6 December 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
  4. ^ "Man Utd 0–0 Tottenham (aet)". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 1 March 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
  5. ^ "Carling Cup Final report". carlingcup.premiumtv.co.uk. 1 March 2009. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2009.