A Goal After 45 Seconds, Steven Gerrard's Calamitous Error And Jose Mourinho's Infamous Taunt... The 2005 League Cup Final Had It All

The first major domestic trophy of the season will be handed out on Sunday when Liverpool take on Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

It will be 17 years to the day since the two sides clashed at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in the final of what was then known as the Carling Cup.

Chelsea won 3-2 that day after extra-time in one of the great finals of the Premier League era.

The result would signal the start of Chelsea’s golden period under Jose Mourinho and spark a fierce rivalry with Liverpool that would reignite later that season.

Both sides went into the 2004-05 campaign under new leadership having replaced their managers during the summer break.

Liverpool had swapped Gerard Houllier for the imperturbable Rafael Benitez, who had won the La Liga and UEFA Cup double with Valencia the previous season.

At Chelsea, Claudio Ranieri had made way for the self-professed ‘Special One’ Mourinho, who had recently led Porto to Champions League glory and the Portuguese league title.

While Liverpool initially struggled for consistency under Benitez, Chelsea had no such problems adapting to Mourinho’s style of football.

They raced to the top of the Premier League and were nine points clear of nearest rivals Manchester United at the time of the Carling Cup final.

Liverpool, on the other hand, were struggling down in fifth and would start the match as clear underdogs.

But they took a shock lead inside the opening minute. Fernando Morientes setting up John Arne Riise to fire the Reds in front with an unstoppable volley after only 45 seconds, which remains to this day the fastest ever League Cup final goal.

It would take until the 79th minute for Chelsea to equalise in bizarre circumstances.

Paulo Ferreira floated a hopeful free-kick into