The 1987 Football League Cup Final was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

match played on 5 April 1987 between

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. The match, played in front of 96,000 spectators at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, was won by Arsenal 2–1. Ian Rush opened the scoring for Liverpool with a side foot finish to the corner of the net, before

Charlie Nicholas Charles Nicholas (born 30 December 1961) is a Scottish former professional footballer. A striker, Nicholas is best known for his spells at Celtic and Arsenal. He won 20 international caps for Scotland, including playing at the 1986 FIFA World ...

equalised, turning in a cross from the right in a crowded penalty area. Nicholas was credited with scoring the winning goal in the second half from a

Perry Groves Perry Groves (born 19 April 1965) is an English former footballer, known chiefly for his time at Arsenal. He was a fast-paced player who usually played as a winger, and occasionally as a striker. Groves also played for Colchester United and Sou ...

cross. His off-target shot deflected off

Ronnie Whelan Ronald Andrew Whelan (; born 25 September 1961) is an Irish former professional footballer player who played as a midfielder and sometimes as a defender. He played an integral role in the dominant Liverpool side that won a wealth of titles in ...

and was diverted past Liverpool goalkeeper

Bruce Grobbelaar Bruce David Grobbelaar (born 6 October 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English team Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team. He is remembered fo ...

's outstretched hand and into the left corner of the net. Arsenal also finished fourth in the First Division, but were unable to compete in the

1987–88 UEFA Cup The 1987–88 UEFA Cup was won by Bayer Leverkusen on penalty kicks over Español. It was the third season of English clubs being barred from this and indeed all European competitions as the sequel of the Heysel disaster of May 1985. The Englis ...

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

voted for the ban in English clubs in European competitions to continue for a third season. Ian Rush's goal was his first to be scored on the losing side in any competition. It ended Liverpool's 144-match unbeaten streak in matches he had scored in.

Match details

References

External links

LFC History Match Report
{{Liverpool F.C. matches

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

League Cup Final 1987 League Cup Final 1987 1986–87 Football League Football League Cup Final Football League Cup Final