FA Cup 2001 - Winners Liverpool

The 2000/01 FA Cup Final took place on 12th May 2001 and was the 120th staging of the competition and was the first one to take place outside of England, it was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as Wembley was being ripped down ready for the new national Stadium. 

The Lead Up to the FA Cup Final 2001

2001 FA Cup FinalArsenal started their FA Cup run with a third round one goal win over Carlisle United . They then went on to destroy Queens Park Rangers by 6 goals to 0 in the fourth round.  They beat the current holders of the FA Cup Chelsea in a thrilling 3–1 match, for the sixth round they entertained Blackburn Rovers at home and beat them 3 - 0.  The semi final brought together a London derby against Tottenham Hotspur with Arsenal winning by 2 goals to 1.

Liverpool's route to the final started with Third Round: draw against a Rotherham side from division one, beating them by a comfortable 3 - 0, the next round saw Liverpool win away at Leeds by 2 goals to 0.  In the fifth round Liverpool beat Manchester City 4 - 2.  In the sixth round they beat local rivals Tranmere 4 -2; at Tranmere and amazingly the semi final was against an awe inspiring performance against Wycombe Wanderers who Liverpool beat 2 -1.

How They Lined Up

Both of teams featured many of the most impressive players of the last decade, Arsenals side was a mixture of old school players in Seaman, Dixon, Parlour and Adams with the more flamboyant European players of Vieira, Pires, Wiltord and Henry.

Arsenal

After Arsenal's impressive route to the FA Cup final, the Gunners fans must have thought they would be able to put some more silverware into the cabinet this year but it was not be.

  • Seaman
  • Dixon (Subbed 90)
  • Keown
  • Adams
  • Cole
  • Pires
  • Grimandi
  • Vieira
  • Ljungberg - (Subbed 85)
  • Wiltord (Subbed 76)
  • Henry
  • Parlour (Sub 76)
  • Kanu (Sub 85)
  • Bergkamp (Sub 90)

Subs Not Used

  • Lauren
  • Manninger

Liverpool

This was to be the second trophy in Liverpool's treble winning season and to be their most successful side in recent years and was captained by Sammy Hyypia

  • Westerveld
  • Babbel
  • Henchoz
  • Hyypia
  • Carragher
  • Murphy (Subbed 77)
  • Gerrard
  • Hamann (Subbed 60)
  • Smicer (Subbed 77)
  • Heskey
  • Owen
  • McAllister(Sub 60)
  • Fowler (Sub 77)
  • Berger (Sub 77)

Subs Not Used

  • Arphexad
  • Vignal

The Result

The match featured two of the top premiership teams, Arsenal and Liverpool and was won by Liverpool by 2 goals to 1, with both of Liverpool's goals coming from Michael Owen with Arsenals solitary reply coming from Freddie Ljungberg

Liverpool 2 – 1 Arsenal
Owen 83' 88' 
Ljungberg 72'
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 72,500
Referee: Steve Dunn (Gloucestershire)