Reds set for record final

Of those 11 finals this will be the Reds eighth final at Wembley.

Here are the rest of the facts and figures ahead of the Carling Cup final from club statto Ged Rea.

Liverpool's record in the League Cup:

Pld 211, Won 126, Drawn 43, Lost 42, Goals scored 427, Goals against 202.

The Reds have won this trophy on a record seven occasions, the last being in 2003 when they defeated Manchester United 2-0 in Cardiff (Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen scoring). Next on the list of final wins are Aston Villa with five.

This will be Liverpool's 32^nd visit to Wembley - they have won 16, drawn six and lost nine. Their last visit was the 1996 FA Cup final against Manchester United.

This game will mark Liverpool's 150^th round of football in the League Cup.

They won five and drew one of their six games in reaching the final scoring 12 goals and conceding five.

The two sides have met once in the League Cup previously. In October 2007 Liverpool won 2-1 at Anfield with goals from Nabil El Zhar and Steven Gerrard. Only Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Fabio Aurelio and Lucas of the players currently at Anfield played that night.

Robbie Fowler played for Cardiff as did current Bluebirds Kevin McNaughton, Stephen McPhail and Peter Whittingham.

Liverpool have met Cardiff three times in cup competition with all games resulting in a 2-1 scoreline. The other two fixtures - both in the FA Cup - were won by Cardiff.

Liverpool have played in five penalty shoot-outs in the League Cup, losing twice - to Wimbledon in 1993 and Northampton at Anfield in 2010.

In major competitive games the Reds have lost two of 12 shoot-outs.

Liverpool have scored in 43 of the last 44 League Cup games - only failing to hit the net during that time at Chelsea in December 2007.

The Reds have only failed to score against one lower division team in the League Cup in the last 20 years - Middlesbrough in the semi-final second leg in February 1998.

The Reds have used 24 players in this season's League Cup run with Cardiff using 28 in their seven games.

Liverpool are the 11^th current Premier League team to play at the 'new' Wembley.

Kenny Dalglish could, if Liverpool win this trophy, become only the third manager after Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho to win all three major domestic English trophies under the current format - Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

This will be Kenny's 28^th appearance at Wembley as a player and manager. He has won 12 and lost nine. This is his 21^st time with the Reds with 10 victories and four defeats.

His last visit to Wembley was as Newcastle boss for the 1999 FA Cup Final which the Geordies lost 2-0 to Arsenal.

The last time he was at Wembley with the Reds saw Liverpool draw the Charity Shield with Manchester United in 1990 - the score being 1-1.

He has taken charge of Liverpool once in a League Cup final - they lost 2-1 to Arsenal in 1987.

This is Kenny's 38^th League Cup game as Liverpool manager. Only Bob Paisley (53) has taken charge of more.

As a player he won four League Cup winners medals and holds the competition record along with Ian Rush of playing in six League Cup finals.

Craig Bellamy made 36 appearances for his hometown club Cardiff last season while on loan from Manchester City but didn't appear in the League Cup. He scored 11 goals in total and played in the first leg of the play-off semi- final against Reading.

He has scored three hat-tricks in his career with the last coming in March 2005 for Celtic against Dundee United in the SPL.

Bellamy has yet to win a major honour in English football, though he did appear as a substitute when the Reds won the Community Shield in 2006.

Steven Gerrard is aiming to become only the ninth Liverpool player to reach a double figure goal tally in the League Cup - Ian Rush 48, Robbie Fowler 29, Kenny Dalglish 27, Ronnie Whelan 14, Steve McMahon 13, Danny Murphy 11, Steve McManaman and David Fairclough (10 each) being the others.

Pepe Reina is the only player to appear in all six of Liverpool's League Cup games this season. He has never tasted defeat in this competition - he has played seven times.

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher could both appear in their fourth League Cup final having played in 2001, 2003 and 2005.

Glen Johnson appeared in the 2005 final for Chelsea against the Reds as an 81^st minute substitute for Joe Cole.

Johnson could become only the second player, after Ray Clemence, to play both for and against Liverpool in a League Cup final.

Stewart Downing could play in his second League Cup final having lost with Aston Villa against Manchester United in 2010. He was an unused substitute when Middlesbrough beat Bolton to lift the Cup in 2004.

Steven Gerrard is looking to become the fourth man to score in League Cup finals at the Millennium Stadium and at the 'new' Wembley, following Didier Drogba, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney.

Should he find the net it will be the third League Cup final he has scored in - doing so for Liverpool in 2003 and against the Reds with an own goal in 2005.

The last Liverpool player to score for the club at Wembley was Steve McManaman who netted both goals in the 2-1 win over Bolton in the 1995 League Cup final.

Only one Liverpool player - Harry Chambers in April 1922 - has ever scored a hat-trick against Cardiff.

All of Liverpool's seven final successes have come when the League Cup has been sponsored by a drinks manufacturer - Milk Marketing Board (1981-84), Coca-Cola (1995) and Worthington's in 2001 and 2003.

Cardiff have reached their fourth major domestic cup final and will make their second appearance in five seasons at Wembley.

Their last appearance at Wembley was in 2010 when they were defeated in the Championship play-off final by Blackpool with Charlie Adam scoring Blackpool's first in his side's 3-2 win. Adam had earlier in the season scored the winner at in the league meeting at Cardiff.

They have played in three FA Cup finals - losing to Sheffield United in 1925, beating Arsenal 1-0 two years later and losing to Portsmouth by a single goal in 2008 (Glen Johnson was in the Portsmouth side that day).

Of that team that played against Portsmouth only Kevin McNaughton, Peter Whittingham and Stephen McPhail remain with City.

This is their first League Cup final having reached the semi-final once previously - they lost 10-3 on aggregate to West Ham in 1965-66.

Last season they were beaten 2-1 at Peterborough in the second round.

They are playing in the Championship for the ninth successive season after beating QPR in the League One play-off final in 2003. They have not played in the top flight since 1961-62.

Cardiff have won six of their seven League Cup games this season. Their only blemish on that record was the 1-0 first leg defeat at Crystal Palace in the semi-final.

During their run this season they have scored 14 times and conceded seven.

Two of City's games this season have been decided on penalty kicks. They beat Leicester 7-6 in the third round following a 2-2 home draw after 120 minutes and eliminated Crystal Palace 3-1 in a shoot-out in the semi-final after both legs had been won 1-0 by the home team.

Craig Conway and Rudy Gestede scored in both shoot-outs.

They have not won away from the Cardiff City Stadium in their last six games since beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground on New Year's Eve.

Since reaching Wembley, City have picked up four points from a possible 15 in the Championship with their last win coming with the 3-1 defeat of Peterborough on February 14.

Cardiff have kept two clean sheets in their last 11 games in league and cup, and have conceded three goals in two of their last four games.

Their last outing saw them lose 3-0 at Ipswich last weekend.

Kenny Miller has won the League Cup north of the border, scoring the only goal of the 2010 final for Rangers against St Mirren.

Andrew Taylor is Cardiff's only ever-present in this season's competition, playing in all seven games.

Anthony Gerrard - cousin of Steven - has played in three of Cardiff's games in the run to the final, scoring in the 2-0 home win over Blackburn in the firth round.

Tom Heaton is Cardiff's second choice 'keeper having played in just two league games this season compared to six cup games. He saved two penalties in the semi-final shoot-out.

Defender Darcy Blake supported both Liverpool and Cardiff as a boy.

In a sequence stretching back to 1953 Cardiff have won eight of the last 10 meetings with Liverpool in all competitions.

Of the 29 meetings between the teams in league and cup Cardiff have won 18 times to Liverpool's nine.

Only five times previously has a lower-division side lifted the trophy - Norwich City (1962), Queens Park Rangers (1967), Swindon Town (1969), Aston Villa (1975) and Sheffield Wednesday (1991) with QPR, Swindon and Wednesday all defeating top-flight opponents.

Mark Clattenburg will referee the final. He has taken charge of Liverpool 11 times previously - the Reds have won four and lost three - taking charge once this season (the 1-0 defeat at Stoke).

The last time he refereed the Welshmen he sent off two Cardiff players in a game against Leeds in February 2007.

Scorers this season (League Cup in brackets):

Liverpool: Suarez 10 (3), Bellamy 9 (2), Carroll 6 (1), Gerrard 5 (2), Maxi 4 (2), Kuyt 3 (1), Skrtel 3 (0), Adam 2 (0), Agger 1 (0), Downing 1 (0), Henderson 1 (0), Johnson 1 (0), Kelly 1 (1), Shelvey 1 (0), own goals 6 (0).

Cardiff: Miller 10 (1), Whittingham 10 (1), Mason 7 (1), Cowie 6 (3), Conway 5 (2), Gunnarsson 5 (0), Earnshaw 4 (0), Gestede 3 (1), Hudson 3 (0), Gerrard 2 (1), Gyepes 1 (1), Jarvis 1 (1), Kiss 1 (0), Parkin 1 (1), Ralls 1 (0), Taylor 1 (0), Turner 1 (0), Vuckic 1 (0), own goals 3 (1).