2008 Football League Cup final

The 2008 Football League Cup Final was a football match played on 24 February 2008. It was the first League Cup Final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, and the first to be played in England since the old Wembley was demolished in 2000. The defending champions were Chelsea, who beat Arsenal in the 2007 Final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. The final was contested by Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Arsenal 6–2 on aggregate in the semi-final, and Chelsea, who beat Everton 3–1 on aggregate. Tottenham Hotspur defeated Chelsea 2–1, after extra time, winning their first trophy in nine years. Chelsea took the lead in the 39th minute through a free kick from Didier Drogba. This goal made Drogba the first player to score in three League Cup Finals, having scored in 2005 and 2007. In the 68th minute, Tottenham were awarded a penalty after Wayne Bridge handled the ball; Dimitar Berbatov converted the spot-kick and equalised. Three minutes into extra time, Jonathan Woodgate headed a Jermaine Jenas free kick onto Petr Čech, who in turn pushed it straight back onto Woodgate's head to score the winning goal. The win was important for Tottenham as not only did they end a 9-year trophy drought, but the win secured the club qualification for the following season's UEFA Cup, something they would not have achieved in the Premier League, as they finished 11th. This would be the last major trophy Tottenham would win for 17-years, until the club won the 2025 UEFA Europa League vs Manchester United. For Chelsea, it was the second of four competitions in which they would finish as runners-up that season, after they lost to Manchester United in the Community Shield and ended up finishing as runners-up to the same team in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. The two teams would meet again in the 2015 League Cup final, in which Chelsea beat Tottenham 2-0.