The 2002–03 Football League Cup (known as the Worthington Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 43rd staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

clubs. The competition began on 20 August 2002, and ended with the final on 2 March 2003. The holders were Blackburn Rovers, but they were eliminated in the semi-finals by

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. The tournament was won by

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, who beat Manchester United 2–0 in the final, thanks to goals from

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, Newcastle United ...

and Steven Gerrard.

Preliminary round

A preliminary round was necessary to reduce the number of teams by one, because of the extra

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

place awarded to newly relegated Ipswich Town through the Fair Play league.

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

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Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

First leg

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Second leg

''Liverpool win 3-2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Manchester United win 4–2 on aggregate''

Final

The 2003 Football League Cup final was played on 2 March 2003 at the Millennium Stadium in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. The game was contested between

and

. Liverpool won the game 2–0.

References

External links

Official Carling Cup websiteCarling Cup
at bbc.co.uk
League Cup news, match reports and pictures
on Reuters.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:2002-03 Football League Cup EFL Cup seasons League Cup Cup