Lucas Leiva was on hand to present four lucky Reds with dream cup final tickets for Sunday's Wembley clash.

The Brazilian international was at Melwood as delighted competition winners Mark Tushingham and Paul Hocken were awarded their golden tickets.

Scott Norman of Buckinghamshire, James Musphatt of Wiltshire and Per Janssen from London, were the other winners of the ballot that was launched four days ago to raise money for the Liverpool FC foundation, the club's official charity.

Fans were offered the chance to donate £10 to the Liverpool FC Foundation, in order to stand a chance of winning a pair of tickets to the Carling Cup final at Wembley.

Mark and Paul were joined by their sons Joe and Daniel at the club's training centre this morning where spirits were running high.

Lucas arrived to greet his star-struck guests without the aid of crutches - something that will delight Reds fans around the world, however, just being in the holding-midfielder's presence made certain it was a day to remember for youngsters Joe and Daniel.

Joe Tushingham said: "It's amazing, I feel like the happiest person on the planet! It felt like a dream come true to see Lucas today."

Paul Hocken added: "I cannot describe in words how I feel. Honestly it's just unbelievable. To hear that it wasn't a wind-up and that it was genuine was just fantastic! I've been to Wembley before, but that was the old Wembley of course. It was 16 years ago the last time we went there - Daniel's 16 tomorrow so it's all fitted in nicely!"

The money raised from the competition will go towards opening a second Respect 4 All Centre in Liverpool to deliver more football coaching sessions to local people who are visually impaired, physically disabled or have severe learning difficulties.

Gary Adlen, Liverpool FC Foundation Director, said: "The thrill it's given the winners is fantastic. Considering that we did it on quite short notice, we had 3,000 responses and we raised about £20,000 for the Foundation.

"We've got a number of programmes running at the moment within Liverpool which help deprived and disadvantaged children and also those with disabilities and this money will help with them."