Craig Bellamy sank his old club as Liverpool set up a Carling Cup final date with Cardiff City next month, following Wednesday evening’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City at Anfield.
Bellamy, who joined the Reds from City in the summer, scored the goal that ultimately took Kenny Dalglish’s men to Wembley for the first time since the stadium’s renovation. His strike for 2-2 on the night made it 3-2 on aggregate after Steven Gerrard’s penalty had been the only goal in the first leg.
Nigel de Jong was the unlikely provider of the opening goal for City on Wednesday with just his second for the club in 118 games, but Gerrard soon equalised with a hotly-disputed penalty. Edin Dzeko put the visitors back in front against the run of play with a quarter of the 90 minutes left, but the final say went to Bellamy on a night where the better team went through.
Andy Carroll was left out of the Reds attack, with Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt offering support for Bellamy, while Dzeko was furthest forward for City as Sergio Aguero began the game on the bench. Mario Balotelli, meanwhile, started his four-match suspension as a result of City’s decision not to appeal the violent conduct charge he received after the weekend win over Tottenham. Micah Richards played as one of three-centre backs as Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov were deployed as wing backs.
City’s unfamiliar defensive set-up was nearly undone as early as the fourth minute. Kolarov failed abysmally in his attempt to clear a cross to the back post, with the stray loose ball dropping for Jose Enrique. His shot from close range was superbly-saved by the outstretched foot of Joe Hart before the recalled Stewart Downing smashed the rebound wildly wide.
Gerrard was booked early on for a challenge on Gareth Barry, but he soon forgot that as he played in his part in a fine Reds start. Craig Bellamy was getting plenty of joy from taking on and generally beating the much-maligned Stefan Savic, while Charlie Adam was not afraid to go for goal when chances presented themselves. Hart had to hold a rare right-foot effort from him 11 minutes in.
A typical bypassing of Savic on the left of the City defence led to Bellamy shooting and drawing another Hart save, before the Welshman was rightly adjudged to be offside when he put the ball to Hart’s net after being played in by Kuyt.
Those chances had been the main incidents of note in the first half hour as City failed completely to have any real positive impact in the game, and yet it was they – through the hitherto barely seen scoring skills of midfield enforcer de Jong – that hit the front in the 31st minute.
David Silva dug the ball out in midfield and slipped it left to de Jong, who began to lose his balance as he ran up to have a pop from 30 yards. However, his momentum can only have helped in what was a sweet effort that curled back in to sneak inside Jose Reina's left-hand post and tie up the tie.
Liverpool responded well, however, with Adam forcing another save out of Hart with a blasted effort from a tight angle on the left, Downing showing good footwork to beat his man but seeing his cross cleared and Kuyt then just beaten to a superb Adam cross by a tremendous Joleon Lescott clearance.
With five minutes left until half-time the Reds got the goal they felt they deserved, but City were furious when Phil Dowd gave the hosts a penalty. A decent turn and low strike from Adam was blocked by Lescott, with Daniel Agger latching onto the rebound. His shot struck the boot of Richards and bounced up to strike his outstretched hand, with Dowd holding his hands in the air to explain why he gave the spot kick, which the City defender, to be fair, could have done little about.
Gerrard did not let the controversy bother him though as, for the second time in the tie, he coolly beat his England colleague Hart from 12 yards, this time firing to the goalkeeper’s bottom right-hand corner.
That levelled it all up before the break, at which time the City players again voiced their displeasure at the penalty decision to Dowd. Their manager Roberto Mancini, meanwhile, responded to going back behind by reverting to a flat back four, withdrawing Savic and introducing Aguero.
However, it was the opposition who were creating all the chances as the second half started to develop. Hart cleared the danger from a Kuyt shot at the second attempt, before a superb instinctive save kept a Martin Skrtel effort at bay. It came from the scraps after a Gerrard free from the left caused more panic in City’s area. Skrtel toe-poked the loose ball goalward and Hart’s punch over his own bar was an outstanding reaction to the quickly-hit effort.
City’s goalkeeper continued to keep them in it after Jordan Henderson sent Kuyt free down the right. The Dutchman’s cross to the back post was struck first-time by Downing, with Hart beating it behind for a corner. Bellamy then looked well-placed to meet an Enrique ball in from the left, but had a swing and a miss in the area as the difference remained the minimum.
Prior to the final quarter of the game, in terms of City chances, the second half had only seen Barry clear the bar and Silva neither cross nor shoot with any accuracy from a right-side free-kick. However, for the second time in the game they would find the net completely against the run of play as the previously-anonymous Dzeko netted an away goal that would come into play if no further strikes were netted after the then-potential extra-time.
On City’s left, Kolarov found what City have not had much of over the two legs – space – and used it to fire a superb ball in across the face of goal, with Dzeko sneaking in behind Agger to tap to the net.
However, just like in the first half, Liverpool did not treat the concession of a goal like the kick in the guts that they might have and were again on the scoresheet within ten minutes.
Bellamy had worked tirelessly and looked a real menace to the City back line all evening and his reward came after Kuyt found the advanced Glen Johnson. The right back played a one-two in the City box with Bellamy, who finished off the move with a concise left-foot finish to beat Hart.
City’s Adam Johnson, on for de Jong, received a fine Dzeko pass and cut in from the right before shooting tamely at Reina, while more attacking play from the winger led to a chance for the Bosnian forward in the area. However, this time Agger was not letting him have it so easy and threw himself at the shot as Liverpool survived.
With City earning a few corners and so many of his men now out on their feet, Dalglish withdrew Bellamy and Kuyt for Martin Kelly and Carroll in the dying stages. His side were given another fright when Aguero improvised with a stoppage-time overhead kick, but it was straight at Reina and that was that for City chances.
Out of both domestic cups and the Champions League, City’s pursuit of the Premier League will now take even more focus. Liverpool march on to Wembley, where they will be strong favourites against more of Bellamy’s old friends Cardiff of the Championship.