2016 Football League Cup final

The 2016 Football League Cup Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 28 February 2016 to determine the winner of the 2015–16 Football League Cup, the 56th edition of the Football League Cup, a competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and Football League. It was contested by Liverpool and Manchester City, with Manchester City winning 3–1 in a penalty shoot-out after the match had finished 1–1 after extra time.^[1] They would have qualified for the Third Qualifying Round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, but they ultimately qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League instead by virtue of their league position.^[2]

2016 Football League Cup Final

Match programme cover
Event	2015–16 Football League Cup
Liverpool Manchester City 1 1
After extra time Manchester City won 3–1 on penalties
Date	28 February 2016 (2016-02-28)
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match	Vincent Kompany (Manchester City)
Referee	Michael Oliver
Attendance	86,206
← 2015 2017 →

Background

Liverpool were participating in a record 12th League Cup Final, having previously won a record eight, most recently in 2012 against Cardiff City. Their last loss was in 2005 to Chelsea.^[3][4]

Manchester City made their fifth appearance in the final, having won three previous times, the last of which as recently as 2014 against Sunderland.^[5]

Route to the final

Main article: 2015–16 Football League Cup

Liverpool

Round	Opponents	Score
3	Carlisle United (H)	1–1 (3–2 pen)
4	AFC Bournemouth (H)	1–0
5	Southampton (A)	1-6
SF	Stoke City (A)	0-1
	Stoke City (H)	0–1 (6–5 pen)

Liverpool, as a Premier League team involved in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, started the competition in the third round. In this they were drawn against Football League Two team Carlisle United, at their home ground, Anfield. After extra time the score was 1–1 but Liverpool advanced after a 3–2 penalty shoot out win.^[6] In the fourth round they were drawn at home again, this time against fellow Premier League team AFC Bournemouth; they won the game 1–0 after Nathaniel Clyne's debut goal for Liverpool.^[7]

In the quarter finals, they were drawn away to fellow Premier League team Southampton. At St. Mary's Stadium, Liverpool won 6–1 with a hat-trick from Divock Origi, two goals from Daniel Sturridge and one from Jordon Ibe.^[8] In the two-legged semi-final, Liverpool were drawn against Stoke City. At the Britannia Stadium, Liverpool won the first leg 1–0 due to a goal from Ibe.^[9] However, they lost the second leg 1–0 at Anfield, their first home loss in a League Cup semi-final,^[10] necessitating a penalty shoot out which Liverpool won 6–5; goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saved from Peter Crouch and Marc Muniesa with Joe Allen scoring the winner.^[10]

Manchester City

Round	Opponents	Score
3	Sunderland (A)	1-4
4	Crystal Palace (H)	5–1
5	Hull City (H)	4–1
SF	Everton (A)	2-1
	Everton (H)	3–1

Manchester City, as a Premier League team involved in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, started in the third round, in which they were drawn away against Sunderland. At the Stadium of Light, Manchester City won 4–1 with goals from Sergio Agüero, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and an own goal from Vito Mannone.^[11] In the next round they were drawn at home against Crystal Palace. At the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester City won 5–1 with goals from Wilfried Bony, De Bruyne, Kelechi Iheanacho, Yaya Touré and Manu García.^[12]

In the quarter-finals, they were drawn against Hull City at home, where they won 4–1 with goals from Bony, Iheanacho and two from De Bruyne.^[13] In the semi-finals, they were drawn against Everton where despite losing 2–1 at Goodison Park,^[14] Manchester City won 3–1 at the City of Manchester Stadium thus reaching the final 4–3 on aggregate and also preventing a Merseyside derby final.^[15]

Match

Summary

In the 49th minute Fernandinho opened the scoring for Man City with a low shot from a tight angle on the right of the box that went into the far corner under Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. In the 60th minute Raheem Sterling had a chance to make it 2-0 but he passed the ball wide of the near post from six yards out. In the 83rd minute, Daniel Sturridge drilled the ball in from the right beyond the far post, the ball came to Adam Lallana whose shot hit the face of the near post with the ball coming back to Philippe Coutinho, who scored with a low right foot shot from 12 yards out.^[16] There were no more goals in the 90 minutes or in the 30 minutes of extra-time with the match going to a penalty shoot-out. Emre Can scored the first penalty of the shoot-out for Liverpool before Fernandinho missed the first spot-kick for Man City, hitting the post. Lucas Leiva then missed the next kick for Liverpool, with Willy Caballero diving to his left to save. Jesús Navas then scored with his kick before Philippe Coutinho missed with the next kick for Liverpool, Caballero saving again to his left. Sergio Agüero then scored before Caballero dived to his right to save from Adam Lallana. Yaya Touré scored with a low shot to the left to win the game for Man City 3-1 on penalties.^[17]

Details

28 February 2016

16:30 GMT

Liverpool	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Manchester City
Coutinho   83'	Report	Fernandinho   49'
Penalties
Can   Lucas   Coutinho   Lallana	1–3	Fernandinho   Navas   Agüero   Touré

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 86,206

Referee: Michael Oliver

Liverpool

Manchester City

GK 22   Simon Mignolet RB 2   Nathaniel Clyne   53' CB 21   Lucas Leiva CB 17   Mamadou Sakho   25' LB 18   Alberto Moreno   65'   72' CM 14   Jordan Henderson (c) CM 23   Emre Can   85' RW 7   James Milner AM 11   Roberto Firmino   80' LW 10   Philippe Coutinho   83' CF 15   Daniel Sturridge Substitutes: GK 34   Ádám Bogdán DF 4   Kolo Touré   25' DF 38   Jon Flanagan MF 20   Adam Lallana   118'   72' MF 24   Joe Allen FW 9   Christian Benteke FW 27   Divock Origi   80' Manager:   Jürgen Klopp

GK 13   Willy Caballero RB 3   Bacary Sagna   90' CB 4   Vincent Kompany (c)   87' CB 30   Nicolás Otamendi   109' LB 22   Gaël Clichy CM 6   Fernando   76'   90' CM 42   Yaya Touré   118' RW 25   Fernandinho   119' AM 21   David Silva   110' LW 7   Raheem Sterling CF 10   Sergio Agüero Substitutes: GK 1   Joe Hart DF 5   Pablo Zabaleta   90' DF 11   Aleksandar Kolarov DF 26   Martín Demichelis MF 15   Jesús Navas   90' FW 14   Wilfried Bony   110' FW 72   Kelechi Iheanacho Manager:   Manuel Pellegrini

Post-match

In winning, Manchester City qualified for the Third Qualifying Round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League; however, they subsequently qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League via their league position. The vacant UEFA Europa League berth was instead allocated to the club ranked highest in the 2015–16 Premier League that had not already qualified for Europe, which was seventh-placed West Ham United.

See also

• 2016 FA Cup Final

References

1. "Liverpool 1 Man City 1 (Man City win 3-1 on penalties)". The Guardian. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
2. "UEFA access list 2015–18" (PDF). Kassiesa. Retrieved 26 January 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. Bull, JJ. "Liverpool vs Stoke City, League Cup semi-final: Mignolet sends Liverpool to Wembley with penalty shootout saves". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
4. Hunter, Andy. "Joe Allen fires Liverpool to Wembley in shootout win over Stoke City". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
5. "Manchester City 3–1 Sunderland". BBC Sport. 2 March 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
6. "Liverpool 1–1 Carlisle United (3–2 pens)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
7. "Liverpool 1–0 Bournemouth". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
8. "Southampton 1–6 Liverpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
9. "Stoke City 0–1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
10. "Liverpool 0–1 Stoke City (agg 1–1, pens 6–5)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
11. "Sunderland 1–4 Manchester City". BBC Sport. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
12. "Manchester City 5–1 Crystal Palace". BBC Sport. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
13. Jurejko, Jonathan (1 December 2015). "Manchester City 4–1 Hull City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
14. McNulty, Phil (6 January 2016). "Everton 2–1 Manchester City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
15. McNulty, Phil (1 January 1970). "Manchester City 3–1 Everton (agg 4–3)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
16. "Liverpool vs Manchester City, League Cup final - live: City win the cup as hero Caballero makes three penalty saves". Daily Telegraph. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
17. "Liverpool v Manchester City: Capital One Cup final – as it happened". The Guardian. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.