2002 Football League Cup final

The 2002 Football League Cup Final was played between Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Sunday, 24 February 2002. Blackburn won the match 2–1 in what was the club's first appearance in the competition's final.^[2]

2002 Football League Cup Final

Match programme cover
Event	2001–02 Football League Cup
Blackburn Rovers Tottenham Hotspur 2 1
Date	24 February 2002
Venue	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Man of the Match	Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers)[1]
Referee	Graham Poll (Hertfordshire)[2]
Attendance	72,500[2]
← 2001 2003 →

Tottenham were forced to produce a one-off yellow shirt for the final when The Football League decided both of their home and away strips, respectively white and light blue, clashed with Blackburn's blue-and-white home strip.

Blackburn were without defender Craig Short and midfielders Gary Flitcroft and Tugay Kerimoğlu due to suspension. This led to 38 year-old veteran striker Mark Hughes starting in central midfield. Blackburn were also without injured back-up goalkeeper Alan Kelly and cup-tied right-back Lucas Neill.

Blackburn opened the scoring with a goal from Matt Jansen, but Christian Ziege soon equalised for Spurs. Andy Cole scored the winner in the 68th minute with a typical instinctive strike after mistakes in the Spurs defence, mainly from Ledley King. Les Ferdinand could have made the match square after a close one-on-one chance with Friedel, but failed to make anything of it. In the final minute Teddy Sheringham had a claim for a penalty turned down by referee Graham Poll.^[2]

Road to Cardiff

Blackburn Rovers Round 2[3] Blackburn 2–0 Oldham Round 3 Blackburn 2–1 (a.e.t.) Middlesbrough Round 4 Blackburn 2–0 Manchester City Quarter-final Blackburn 4–0 Arsenal Semi-final (1st leg) Sheffield Wednesday 1–2 Blackburn Semi-final (2nd leg) Blackburn 4–2 Sheffield Wednesday Note: (Blackburn won 6–3 on aggregate)

Tottenham Hotspur Round 2[3] Tottenham 2–0 Torquay Round 3 Tranmere 0–4 Tottenham Round 4 Fulham 1–2 Tottenham Quarter-final Tottenham 6–0 Bolton Semi-final (1st leg) Chelsea 2–1 Tottenham Semi-final (2nd leg) Tottenham 5–1 Chelsea Note: (Tottenham won 6–3 on aggregate)

Match

Details

Blackburn Rovers	2–1	Tottenham Hotspur
Jansen 25' Cole 68'	Report	Ziege 33'

24 February 2002

15:00 GMT

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Attendance: 72,500^[2]

Referee: Graham Poll (Hertfordshire)^[2]

Blackburn Rovers

Tottenham Hotspur

GK 1 Brad Friedel RB 28 Martin Taylor CB 4 Henning Berg (c) CB 14 Nils-Eric Johansson LB 5 Stig Inge Bjørnebye RM 18 Keith Gillespie  75' CM 12 Mark Hughes CM 8 David Dunn LM 11 Damien Duff CF 9 Andy Cole CF 10 Matt Jansen  74' Substitutes: GK 27 Alan Miller DF 2 John Curtis MF 15 Craig Hignett  75' MF 16 Alan Mahon FW 17 Yordi  74' Manager: Graeme Souness

GK 1 Neil Sullivan RWB 3 Mauricio Taricco  79' CB 26 Ledley King CB 6 Chris Perry CB 18 Ben Thatcher LWB 23 Christian Ziege CM 7 Darren Anderton CM 8 Tim Sherwood AM 14 Gustavo Poyet  84' CF 10 Teddy Sheringham (c) CF 9 Les Ferdinand Substitutes: GK 13 Kasey Keller DF 30 Anthony Gardner MF 29 Simon Davies  79' FW 11 Serhii Rebrov FW 16 Steffen Iversen  84' Manager: Glenn Hoddle

Man of the match Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers)[1]

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions

References

1. "Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners". The Football League. 26 February 2012. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
2. "Cole strike stuns Spurs". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 24 February 2002. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
3. Clubs in the Premier League receive a bye to the second or third round