The 2012 FA Cup final was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

match between Chelsea and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 5 May 2012. It was the final match of the

2011–12 FA Cup The 2011–12 FA Cup (also known as The FA Cup with Budweiser for sponsorship reasons) was the 131st season of the world's oldest football knock-out competition, the FA Cup. The closing date for applications was 1 April 2011, and saw 825 clubs ap ...

, the 131st season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. Chelsea were participating in their eleventh final, they had previously won six and lost four. Liverpool were appearing in their fourteenth final, they had won seven times and lost six. Scheduled to provide a clear four-week period between the end of the English season and the start of

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

, the date of the final clashed with Premier League fixtures. To avoid having the final played at the same time as league games, the match kicked off at the later time of 5:15 p.m., rather than the usual 3:00 p.m., by which time the other fixtures had ended. As both teams were in the highest tier of English football, the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, they entered the competition in the Third Round. Matches up to the semi-final were contested on a one-off basis, with a replay taking place if the match ended in a draw. Chelsea's matches ranged from comfortable victories to close affairs. They beat

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

5–1 in the semi-final, while they beat

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

1–0 in the Fourth Round. Liverpool's matches were similar, with three ending in a 2–1 scoreline, while the other two against

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

were won by at least four goals. Watched by a crowd of 89,102, Ramires put Chelsea in front in the 11th minute after he dispossessed Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing and beat Pepe Reina in the Liverpool area. They extended their lead in the 52nd minute when striker

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is the Top international association football goal scorers by cou ...

scored. Liverpool substitute

Andy Carroll Andrew Thomas Carroll (born 6 January 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championnat National 2 club Bordeaux. He has played in the Premier League and English Football League for Newcastle United, Preston No ...

scored in the 64th minute to reduce the deficit to one goal. Carroll thought he had scored a second in the 81st minute, but his header was saved on the line by Chelsea goalkeeper

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Oxford City Stars. He has ...

. Carroll ran off celebrating, as he thought the ball had crossed, but referee Phil Dowd did not award a goal and Chelsea held on to win the match 2–1.

Route to the final

Chelsea

As a

team, Chelsea entered the competition in the Third Round, where they were drawn at home to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. After a goalless first half

Juan Mata Juan Manuel Mata García (born 28 April 1988) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for A-League Men club Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Western Sydney Wanderers. He primarily plays as an attacking ...

struck early in the second, before Ramires hit two in two minutes and

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of English club Coventry City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, one of Chelsea's greates ...

scored in stoppage time to give Chelsea a 4–0 win. Chelsea then travelled to face local rivals

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

in the Fourth Round, where a controversial Mata penalty was enough to see them through. TorresyMeirelesBlues

Chelsea were drawn to play at home against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

in the Fifth Round, with Birmingham dominating the first half through a David Murphy goal. Daniel Sturridge scored in the second half to force a replay, which was played on 6 March at Birmingham, just two days after

André Villas-Boas Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese sports executive, and former professional Manager (association football), football manager, who is currently the List of FC Porto presidents, president of Port ...

was relieved of his duties as Chelsea manager. Birmingham held Chelsea throughout the first half, and looked the stronger side at times, but after Mata and Raul Meireles scored twice in five minutes, Chelsea dominated the remainder of the game until the final whistle. In the Sixth Round, Chelsea overcame

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

at home in a 5–2 thriller. Gary Cahill scored his first FA Cup goal for Chelsea from a corner in the 12th minute, with Salomon Kalou following up five minutes later. In the second half,

Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He is the curr ...

ended a goal drought of over 25 hours to score, before Jermaine Beckford gave Leicester a late lifeline. Torres scored again in the 85th minute to put the result beyond doubt, although Ben Marshall grabbed one back three minutes later, before Meireles scored in the 90th minute to send Chelsea through to the semi-final. In the semi-final, Chelsea faced local rivals

at Wembley. The first half was even, with both sides enjoying long spells of possession, until

put Chelsea ahead just before the break. Chelsea scored at the start of the second half. However, Juan Mata's goal that did not appear to cross the line, but referee

Martin Atkinson Martin Atkinson (born 31 March 1971) is an English referee coach and retired professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association. Atkinson made his first ...

awarded the goal.

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, and the Wales national ...

put Tottenham back in it with a goal shortly after a

challenge on Emmanuel Adebayor. Despite the goal, Tottenham never took control of the game and Ramires scored in the 77th minute, followed minutes later by a

free kick, and a Florent Malouda strike in the fourth minute of added time. This secured Chelsea's place in their first FA Cup Final since their

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

triumph over Portsmouth.

Liverpool

Liverpool – also a Premier League team – entered the competition in the Third Round too. Their opening match was a 5–1 home win against

. Robbie Simpson opened the scoring for Oldham in the 28th minute, but

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is the current Football coach (association football), head ...

equalised just two minutes later, with

Jonjo Shelvey Jonjo Shelvey (born 27 February 1992) is an English professional footballer who most recently played as a central midfielder for EFL Championship club Burnley. Shelvey began his career at Charlton Athletic, becoming their youngest-ever player ...

scored his first goal for the club in the second half, before late goals from

and

Stewart Downing Stewart Downing (born 22 July 1984) is an English former professional footballer. He played most of his career as a winger or left-back He is currently the assistant coach for Leeds United's U21 squad. Downing started his career at Middlesbro ...

ensured progression to the Fourth Round. For the Fourth Round, Liverpool were drawn at their home ground,

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. The match took place in the wake of the racial abuse row between

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

and

Patrice Evra Patrice Latyr Evra (; born 15 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer. Originally a forward, he primarily played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. He was named in the P ...

, for which Suárez was serving an eight-match ban. Daniel Agger opened the scoring with a header from a corner, before

Park Ji-sung Park Ji-sung (; born 30 March 1981) is a South Korean former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in the South Korean capital Seoul, Park is regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Asian pe ...

equalised for United before half-time. With the match approaching full-time, Dirk Kuyt scored in the 88th minute to give Liverpool a 2–1 victory and secured their place in the Fifth Round. Their opponents were

, whom Liverpool beat 6–1 at Anfield, courtesy of goals from Martin Škrtel, Carroll and Suárez, as well as three own goals. Liverpool faced

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

in the Sixth Round at Anfield. Suárez scored in the 23rd minute to give Liverpool the lead, before former player

Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He was Cap (sport), capped 42 times by the England national football t ...

equalised three minutes later. Downing scored in the second half to secure a 2–1 for the club and ensure their place in the semi-finals. Local rivals Everton were the opponents in the semi-final, held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

Nikica Jelavić Nikica Jelavić (; born 27 August 1985) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Jelavić began his career with Croatian side Hajduk Split of the Prva HNL in 2002, before moving to Belgian Pro League club Zulte Wa ...

scored in the 24th minute after a Liverpool defensive error, to give Everton a 1–0 lead. Liverpool equalised in the second half when Suárez scored after a back-pass from Everton defender

Sylvain Distin Sylvain Distin (born 16 December 1977) is a French former professional association football, footballer. He is left-footed and played as a centre-back, and was also capable of playing at Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Dist ...

. The match looked to be heading towards extra time, before Carroll headed in a

free kick in the 87th minute to give Liverpool a 2–1 victory and secure their place in the final for the first time since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, when they defeated

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

Background

Appearing in the final for the fourteenth time, Liverpool had won the FA Cup seven times previously (in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

), and had been beaten in the final six times (in

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

). Chelsea were appearing in the final for the eleventh time. They had won the FA Cup six times previously (in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

), and had been beaten in the final four times (in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

). Liverpool and Chelsea had previously met nine times in the FA Cup, including two semi-finals (most recently in

), although they had never met in the final before. Chelsea had the upper hand in those nine meetings, winning five times to Liverpool's four; however, Liverpool won both semi-finals between the two clubs, both on neutral grounds. The only domestic cup final to feature both teams was the 2005 League Cup final, which Chelsea won 3–2 at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. Liverpool and Chelsea had faced each other twice during the season, with Liverpool winning on both occasions. Liverpool won the first meeting in the 2011–12 Premier League 2–1, they won their second meeting in the

2011–12 Football League Cup The 2011–12 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. Birmingham City w ...

2–0, before winning the final against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

. As Liverpool and Chelsea had been due to play one another in the

on 5 May 2012, the same day as the final, the FA announced that the league game would be postponed until Tuesday 8 May, meaning that the two sides would play each other twice in four days. Both teams had injury concerns ahead of the final. Liverpool were expected to be without midfielders

Charlie Adam Charles Graham Adam (born 10 December 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the set-piece coach at Everton. Prior to that, he was the manager of club Fleetwood Town. Adam started hi ...

and Lucas Leiva, who were both out with knee injuries, while Chelsea were missing defenders

David Luiz David Luiz Moreira Marinho (born 22 April 1987) is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Fortaleza Esporte Clube, Fortaleza. H ...

and Gary Cahill to hamstring injuries. Liverpool captain

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional Coach (association football), football coach and former Association football, player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, the En ...

was hopeful Chelsea would win the final, to help caretaker manager

Roberto Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. A midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau early in his career. After winning the Swiss league title with Aarau i ...

's hopes of getting the job full-time: "To win it he Cupwill put himself in a very good position. He's not thinking of that at the moment, he's not letting the players get distracted by anything. He's very passionate, he's Chelsea through and through, and that's certainly rubbed off on the players. So, if we can do it with the added bonus that Robbie can get the job at the end, that'd be great." In addition to the later kick-off time, travelling supporters from Liverpool faced major difficulties getting to and from the final after

Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West C ...

cancelled the majority of its direct services between

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station complex located on Lime Street, Liverpool, Lime Street in Liverpool city centre. Although publicly a single, unified station, it is operationally divided into two official railway stations: Liv ...

and London Euston with maintenance work taking place on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

over the May Day bank holiday weekend. Both teams were allocated 25,074 tickets for the final, which was 7,000 fewer than they received for the semi-finals. 17,000 tickets went to Club Wembley members, who are effectively season ticket holders at Wembley Stadium, while the remainder went to the grassroots football community.

Match

First half

Chelsea kicked off and had the first shot within the first minute when

fired over the crossbar. Liverpool had more of the ball in the opening minutes, but striker

struggled to maintain possession of the ball against the Chelsea defence. Chelsea scored in the 10th minute when Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing lost possession of the ball to Ramires; the Brazilian subsequently went past defender José Enrique into the Liverpool penalty area, where his shot went through goalkeeper Pepe Reina's legs and into the goal to give Chelsea a 1–0 lead. Liverpool responded by going on the attack; a Glen Johnson pass found striker

, whose shot was cleared off the line by Chelsea defender

Branislav Ivanović Branislav Ivanović ( sr-Cyrl, Бранислав Ивановић, ; born 22 February 1984) is a Serbian former professional Association football, footballer. A versatile defender, Ivanović played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back ...

. Liverpool were still struggling to maintain possession; with

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of English club Coventry City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, one of Chelsea's greates ...

profited from Liverpool's failure to hold on to possession when he received the ball from a misplaced

Jordan Henderson Jordan Brian Henderson (born 17 June 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club Ajax, which he captains, and the England national team. He is noted for his leadership, versatility, and physicali ...

pass, but his shot away from goal went wide. In the 33rd minute, a Chelsea free-kick, awarded after Ramires was brought down by Enrique, was cleared by the Liverpool defence; Enrique then had the chance to counter Chelsea's attack, but he delayed his run and was dispossessed. The first yellow card of the match was shown to Chelsea midfielder Mikel John Obi in the 36th minute after a mistimed tackle on Gerrard. A cross from midfielder

was headed out for a Liverpool corner in the 40th minute, but the subsequent corner was cleared by Chelsea goalkeeper

. Liverpool had another chance straight afterwards, but Suárez was unable to direct his header at goal after receiving the ball from Henderson. Towards the end of the half, Daniel Agger was shown a yellow card for his challenge on Mikel.

Second half

Liverpool kicked off the second half, but it was Chelsea who had the first attack. Chelsea defender Ashley Cole had space in the Liverpool penalty area, but his pass to

was intercepted by the Liverpool defence. The Reds subsequently went on the attack and won a corner, but the ball into the Chelsea penalty area by Bellamy was cleared. Liverpool continued to attack but were denied a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in the 50th minute, when Gerrard went down in the Chelsea penalty area. The ball was subsequently put back into the Chelsea penalty area by Downing, but Henderson could only head the ball to Chelsea players. Liverpool were made to rue their missed chances, as two minutes later, Chelsea had extended their lead. Lampard got away from Spearing and passed to Drogba on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area; he advanced past Liverpool defender Martin Škrtel and shot through the legs of Reina and into the Liverpool goal to make the score 2–0. Liverpool went on the offensive after the second Chelsea goal. A Suárez shot was saved by Čech, and manager

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

replaced midfielder Spearing with striker

. The substitution worked: In the 64th minute, Carroll scored when Downing won a tackle on the left-hand side of the pitch, which resulted in the ball breaking to Carroll. His subsequent shot beat Čech in the Chelsea goal to reduce the deficit to 2–1. Liverpool continued to press forward following their goal. Carroll found Gerrard with a headed pass in the 71st minute, but Gerrard's shot went over the crossbar. Two minutes later, a Suárez shot was saved by Čech and went out for a Liverpool corner, but Agger's header from the resulting corner flew wide. Carroll had a number of chances in the subsequent minutes, but none of his headers hit the target. Chelsea replaced goalscorer Ramires with midfielder Raul Meireles in the 76th minute, and a minute later, Bellamy was replaced by Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool. A minute after the substitution, Suárez worked his way into the Chelsea half and had his pass to Kuyt cleared, but it fell to Henderson, whose shot went over the Chelsea goal. Carroll thought he equalised in the 81st minute when his header from a Suárez cross was then palmed by Čech onto the underside of the bar and away to safety. Carroll ran away celebrating his second goal, but after consulting with his assistant, referee Phil Dowd did not award the goal. Replays of the incident remain ambiguous as to whether the ball crossed the line completely. Liverpool continued to push forward for the equaliser in the closing minutes, but they were unable to score, and the match finished 2–1 to Chelsea.

Details

Statistics

Post-match

Chelsea's victory meant they won the FA Cup for the seventh time. Caretaker manager

was relaxed about his prospects of securing the full-term following their victory: "The boss Roman Abramovich ">Roman_Abramovich.html" ;"title="Roman Abramovich">Roman Abramovich will make a decision at the end of the season. I'm very relaxed about it and the players will be fine, I am a very fortunate person so it is not an issue." Di Matteo was delighted with his players, as they survived Liverpool's attacks in the final minutes to secure victory: "I am very pleased for the players," said Di Matteo. "We have had a difficult season with a lot of criticism but they have responded to all the adversity we have faced. I'm very pleased and satisfied with our performance today." Chelsea captain

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional Coach (association football), football coach and former Association football, player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, the En ...

was equally pleased with the performance, but turned his attention to the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, where they would face FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich: "It's fantastic, it's what we live for. We've still got a massive trophy, the Champions League - that's the target for the owner from day dot. We've done Robbie the world of good and it can do him no harm." Liverpool manager

was adamant that his players would improve following the defeat: "They've been in two cup finals in this season – they'll have enjoyed the first one more than the second, the lads will benefit from the experience. You can't give a team like Chelsea a two-goal head start." When asked about his future as manager of the club Dalglish stated: "We'll assess the season at the end of the season." Captain

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,Andy Carroll Andrew Thomas Carroll (born 6 January 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championnat National 2 club Bordeaux. He has played in the Premier League and English Football League for Newcastle United, Preston No ...

, who scored one goal and had another disallowed, thought the ball had crossed the line: "I thought it was over the line and you know better than me but I thought it was. I thought it hit the other side of the bar but I haven't seen it back." The two sides met in the Premier League three days after the final, a match that Liverpool won 4–1. Liverpool finished the season in eighth place and Dalglish was subsequently sacked 8 days later on 16 May 2012 and replaced by

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

manager

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed until h ...

. Chelsea would finish the season in sixth place; however, they won the

2011–12 UEFA Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa Lea ...

, beating Bayern Munich 4–3 in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

after the final finished 1–1 after extra time. Chelsea's victory in the FA Cup final set up a Community Shield match against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, the winners of the 2011–12 Premier League. The match was broadcast live in the United Kingdom, in HD on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

and also on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. A peak of 11.2 million saw the climax of the game on ITV1 with 8.9 million viewers on average watching the live match coverage. It was the highest-rated final since the

final. ESPN's coverage of the final attracted 397,000 viewers.

References

External links

Full match
(broadcast on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fa Cup Final 2012

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Sports events at Wembley Stadium Liverpool F.C. matches Chelsea F.C. matches 2012 in sport in London May 2012 sports events in the United Kingdom Football competitions in London