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Liverpool Demolish City Rivals to Win First Silverware Under Rodgers
The last time the side won the competition was in 2012, when they beat Cardiff City in the Final.
A Raheem Sterling brace helped Liverpool to a 4-0 win over Everton in the Capital One Cup Final, but a Ross Barkley own goal got the scoring underway for The Reds.
After beating Stoke in the Semi-Finals, Brendan Rodgers' side were prepared for the challenge of their local rivals coming into the match, and it seemed that Everton, on the other hand, were not.
New manager Morten Wieghorst was left dismayed after his first game in charge of Everton, and may be wondering if this was the right move for him.
Liverpool XI vs Everton
(4-3-2-1)Mignolet; Corchia, Otamendi, Škrtel, Enrique; Carvalho, Henderson, Sterling, Stanciu, Coutinho; Suárez (C).
Subs: Reina, Flanagan, Kondogbia, Shaqiri, Agger, Gerrard, Benteke.
Everton XI vs Liverpool
(4-5-1)Howard; Coleman, Forlín, Stones, Limbersky; Gibson, McCarthy, Barkley, Fernández, Zozulya; Eto'o.
Subs: Joel, Lundstram, Hamad, Muirhead, Jagielka (C), Ledson, Naismith.
Rodgers chose to name Suárez as his lone striker, as well as making the Uruguayan captain for the Final, despite Benteke having been in better form. Suárez clearly has something to offer the squad, and with no Steven Gerrard or Daniel Agger in the first team squad, he needed to step up.
Martin Atkinson blew his whistle to start the game, with a full capacity Wembley watching on. Everton kicked off calmly, but the first real incident of the game was an unfortunate one; Everton's David Limbersky stayed on the pitch until half time after picking up an injury, but it was clear that it had affected him.
The first chance of the game went to Everton - Matías Fernández broke away following some poor defending from Enrique, but rushed his shot, firing straight at Mignolet in the Liverpool goal. Moments later, Fernández was involved again - this time at the other end of the pitch. After Sébastien Corchia strode into the penalty area, Fernández was the only man who could stop him, but the Frenchman was too strong. The fullback shot at goal, but the best he could do was fire a shot into the side netting of Tim Howards' goal.
Then came the goal. Liverpool won a corner, and Nicolae Stanciu ran across to take. A delivery into the six yard box confused the defence, and forward Roman Zozulya attempted to clear. All that the Ukrainian could do, however, was fire at English team-mate Ross Barkley, the ball bouncing off of him and past Tim Howard. 1-0 to Liverpool, in slightly comical circumstances.
Liverpool kicked off the second half, but the first chance of the second half came midway through. Zozulya came clean through on goal, but clearly suffering from his earlier mistake, he scuffed the shot, and it went miles wide of the goal. Juan Forlín then gave the game away. A very tight game up until this point, the Argentinian fouled Raheem Sterling to earn his second yellow card of the game, and he headed off the pitch looking disgusted with himself.
Liverpool capitalized on this, and eight minutes from time, they doubled their lead. Everton carelessly gave the ball away to substitute Xherdan Shaqiri, and the Swiss winger played a lovely ball through to Christian Benteke, also a substitute, the Belgian finishing past Howard with ease.
Minutes later, it was 3-0. Gerrard and Sterling linked up on the edge of the area, and the 20-year-old winger took the ball back from Gerrard, and fired it across goal from just inside the area, the ball flying into the top corner. It was a fantastic goal and he went straight over to thank team-mate Gerrard for his assist.
The game was wrapped up in injury time, with Sterling grabbing his second, this time a much simpler goal. Shaqiri crossed a low ball towards Sterling, and he simply tapped it in past Tim Howard to embarrass Everton further. Brendan Rodgers was delighted but the team must now turn their efforts towards the league, with 1st place still achievable.