Liverpool’s 2000-01 season overflowed with pivotal games, sliding-doors moments, and personal and collective breakthroughs.
But those who were there, those who made three trophies and Champions League qualification a reality during that campaign, agree on a fundamental turning point for the team built by Gerard Houllier.
February 25, 2001. The League Cup final against Birmingham City in Cardiff.
This group of players’ first taste of silverware together. And that feeling it prompted, that moreish desire, described by assistant manager Phil Thompson above.
Here, in the first instalment of a special Liverpoolfc.com series celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 2000-01 treble, we focus on the transformative effect of that afternoon at the Millennium Stadium.
The Reds hadn’t always made it easy for themselves in their League Cup run, needing a 104th-minute winner from Robbie Fowler to defeat Chelsea in the third round and having to overturn a 2-1 deficit in the two-legged semi-final against Crystal Palace.
And they arrive in Cardiff for the final as overwhelming favourites to see off Birmingham, who play in the second tier. But the encounter proves to be one last tricky obstacle for Houllier’s men to hurdle...
Jamie Carragher: “Gerard Houllier actually took us there the day before. Rather than go straight to the hotel, we went straight to the stadium first and had a walk around the stadium for half an hour on the pitch just getting our senses of what the stadium was like, what the pitch was like. Then we went to the hotel and came back for the game the next day. That’s what Gerard Houllier was like – everything mattered, every little one per cent he could gain, he would.”
Sander Westerveld: “That was just an amazing stadium. The bus drive to the stadium was an experience as well, seeing so many Liverpool fans, it was amazing. It felt like I was just on cruise control and I never felt the pressure. I was just enjoying everything and it gave me a great boost before the game.”
Dietmar Hamann: “A fantastic stadium. It didn’t have the history of Wembley but, for me, it’s one of the best in terms of atmosphere.”
Vladimir Smicer: “We knew we had a chance to win our first trophy together. People called it the smallest cup but every cup is important and we knew as a team we needed to win something to gain the confidence. This was the first opportunity for us in Cardiff. We were a little bit nervous because we were the favourites and everyone expected us to win.”
Markus Babbel: “This was a very difficult game. We were the favourites against a Championship team and there was so much pressure on us. You saw the game, it was a 50-50 game and we didn’t dominate them, they were fighting for everything.”
Fowler, wearing the captain’s armband, puts his side in front in the 30th minute with a sumptuous exhibition of technique. The No.9 lets Emile Heskey’s flick-on from a goal-kick come across his body to his lethal left foot before lobbing it up and over Ian Bennett into the top corner from 25 yards.
But Liverpool are unable to turn their control of the contest into a second goal...
Phil Thompson: “I remember we had a special role for Vladi on this day – sort of a No.10 role, coming off, just drifting off, making sure he’d get in those pockets. And it worked perfect. Only problem, we didn’t capitalise on the 90-minute display.”
Vladimir Smicer: “We were winning 1-0 and I unfortunately had a good chance to make it 2-0 just before half-time, but I missed it. It was a big chance.”
Phil Thompson: “We had so many chances. That was the only thing on the day, that you’ve gone: ‘We should have put this to bed.’ Something in the back of your mind always says missing those chances could come back to haunt us.”
Stephane Henchoz: “We were 1-0 up and we were in control, to be honest. Don’t forget, we were playing a team who were in the Championship back at the time, so we were in control. And I remember there was this set-up ball in the box and I made the wrong decision.”
With the score still 1-0 in stoppage time, and a trophy presentation a matter of seconds away, Birmingham spin a cross into the Liverpool box from the right and the ball runs loose towards the edge.
The Blues’ Martin O’Connor runs towards it and gets a touch before Stephane Henchoz scythes him down with a careless, lunging challenge. The referee immediately awards a penalty...
Stephane Henchoz: “You have a fraction of a second to decide what you’re going to do. On that occasion, obviously it was the wrong decision going for the tackle, trying to win the ball, to block the ball and obviously being a bit late and going into the tackle. It’s a hard moment, I can tell you, because you know you let the team down – you made a mistake, it’s your mistake, nobody else to blame. And there is still a lot to play for – it’s only 1-1 – but it is back to square one.”
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Birmingham centre-back Darren Purse steps up and coolly places his spot-kick inside the right post, evading the reach of Sander Westerveld as he moves in the same direction.
Extra-time looms and the Reds attempt, not wholly successfully, to shake off the shock during the additional 30 minutes...
Sander Westerveld: “I was well known for saving penalties but, unfortunately, I couldn’t save it. Suddenly the whole atmosphere changed and that was probably the inexperience of the team that we couldn’t kill the game.”
Phil Thompson: “Their tails are up. We’re certainly down because of it, so they did have a great 30 minutes because they were absolutely flying. It wasn’t anything to do with fitness; confidence was now in them, because they had got away with it in the 90 minutes.”
Dietmar Hamann clatters the post with a piercing drive from distance but Liverpool, in truth, reach the end of extra-time mostly relieved Henchoz has not conceded a second penalty, this time for a tackle on Andy Johnson...
Stephane Henchoz: “These days the VAR would have been definitely used. It could have been a second one in extra-time, to be honest. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and on this occasion, let’s say that I was a bit lucky.”
Jamie Carragher: “I was very frustrated at the end of the game that we hadn’t won it. I thought we’d had a really poor performance, we hadn’t performed well at all. And we were quite fortunate to get to penalties because Birmingham had a decent shout for another penalty in the 120 minutes – a tackle by Stephane Henchoz on Andy Johnson. I think we were very fortunate to get away with that. So there was a lot of frustration actually beforehand and not really nerves going into the penalty shootout.”
Westerveld hands his team an early advantage in the shootout by saving Birmingham’s opening attempt from Martin Grainger, while Gary McAllister, Nick Barmby and Christian Ziege each convert.
But after Hamann’s hit is stopped, the Blues draw level and force sudden death. Jamie Carragher, the 23-year-old local lad, is the sixth man up for the Reds...
Phil Thompson: “Carra was there, Carra was ready and willing. ‘Right, bang, you’re up for taking it.’ I think Carra, although he was a defender, I think he felt responsibility, even as a young player, that, ‘Yeah, I can do this.’”
Jamie Carragher: “I didn’t have an ounce of nerves, to be honest. If I’d have missed I wouldn’t have blamed myself or thought it was my fault we’d lost the cup. I always feel if we hadn’t done enough in the 120 minutes to win the cup… that’s why I was frustrated at the end of the game. But I just went up, the longest run-up you’ll ever see in a penalty shootout. I decided where I wanted to put it and put it right in the postage stamp.”
Phil Thompson: “That ball was not stopping. I thought, if it didn’t hit the back of the net it would have ended up in Anfield!”
Now, Johnson has to score for Birmingham. But Westerveld reads his intentions, springing to his left to palm the strike away.
The Liverpool supporters behind him erupt. The trophy is, at last, won...
Sander Westerveld: “For a goalkeeper that’s the best moment, to save the last penalty like Jerzy Dudek did in the Champions League final, and to make a difference for the team and be important for the team. I was on cloud nine and really enjoying it with the Liverpool fans, the best fans in the world. I went down on my knees and you could see on my face just what that moment meant to me.”
As Fowler raises the League Cup above his head, and players and staff take turns to get their own hands on the silverware, the message Houllier had consistently impressed upon his squad rings true.
‘We crack it, we win our first trophy, it will make it a lot easier,’ the Frenchman had said. Put the first one in the cabinet and more will follow, ran his prophetic mission statement...
Markus Babbel: “The most important final we won was Birmingham City in the League Cup, because if we didn’t win this final I’m not sure we could have won the FA Cup or UEFA Cup.”
Vladimir Smicer: “It was so important for us to win that first trophy. We said, ‘We are now free, we are a strong team who can win these trophies, so let’s have a strong end to the season.’”
Sander Westerveld: “Celebrating with the trophy and the fans is what you play for. If we had lost that on penalties I’m 100 per cent sure we wouldn’t have won more finals. The young players experiencing the feeling of winning for the first time was massive. Houllier was telling us we could write history and he made sure everybody believed we could do that.”
Jamie Carragher: “It did feel like a special day to get your hands on a trophy. Because when you’re a Liverpool player it’s about winning trophies, it’s not about playing for Liverpool. Playing for the club is not enough, you have to win. That’s the whole point of the club. So it was just nice to almost get that first one done and out of the way.”
Dietmar Hamann: “If we hadn’t won the League Cup final against Birmingham I don’t think we would have won the other two finals. Once you win the first one it gives everyone belief that you can do it. That was the start of a tremendous three months to come until the end of the season – and it all started with the Birmingham game.”
Such was the strength of emotion, even those not involved in the match that day were swept away by the joy of seeing hard work translate into success.
A ligament injury had cruelly ruled Danny Murphy out of the final, for example, after the midfielder had provided four goals in the competition en route to Cardiff.
Nevertheless, a touching gesture by Houllier ensured Murphy would have his own memento...
Danny Murphy: “I actually felt really happy that we won silverware as a group and moved forward and I knew winning the first trophy was beneficial to all of us, regardless of whether I was on the pitch or not. I was chatting with the manager afterwards, because when you are not in the squad you don’t get a medal. Houllier said, ‘You haven’t got a medal, have you? So have mine, you deserve it more than me with the goals you’ve scored and stuff.’ And I was like, ‘Thanks very much, cheers boss!’”