A history of LFC's League Cup finals: 1984 and 1987

Liverpool 0-0 Everton - March 25, 1984 - Wembley

Liverpool 1-0 Everton - March 28, 1984 - Maine Road

Liverpool were the victors in the first all-Merseyside cup final as they beat Everton to deliver an unprecedented fourth League Cup trophy in a row.

Joe Fagan picked up where Bob Paisley left off in his first season managing the club but he required two attempts to beat the Toffees in 1984. 

The initial final was a rainy and dull 0-0 affair at Wembley in front of around 100,000 spectators, with both sets of supporters chanting ‘Merseyside’ on a day where the majority of the city flocked down south. 

Extra-time couldn’t separate the sides and a replay was forced at Maine Road on March 28 - just three days after the Wembley final.

In another tight affair, Graeme Souness grabbed what proved to be the winner in the 21st minute with a powerful long-range effort.

The goal clinched Fagan’s debut honour as Liverpool boss and the manager paid tribute to the man he succeeded and his opponents over two fiercely-contested matches. 

He was quoted at the time saying: “Winning a trophy is a manager’s dream and I have been incredibly lucky to to achieve it quicker than many other people. Never forget it was Bob Paisley’s era that brought the players here.

“To be honest, I felt a bit embarrassed when they said they [the players] had wanted to win something for me. 

“Our club has gone on for so many years that winning trophies has become a tradition and I would not like to break it.” 

“I honestly felt sorry for Everton at the end of the day because they had contributed so much to both matches and had such a good run but have nothing to show for it. 

“I wish them all the luck there in the FA Cup. I would love to see them win that.”

Fagan would complete the treble in his first season by adding the league and European Cup, while Everton would win the FA Cup in what was a clean sweep for Merseyside that year.

Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal - April 5, 1987 - Wembley

Arsenal beat Liverpool in the 1987 League Cup final with a comeback 2-1 victory at Wembley on April 5 to end a remarkable run for the Reds.

Ian Rush opened the scoring for Kenny Dalglish’s side in the 23rd minute and, while at 1-0, supporters from Merseyside would have thought the cup was secured because of an incredible record that stood whenever the Welshman scored.

Up until that game, Liverpool had never lost when Rush had found the back of net - a spell that covered 145 matches over a five-and-a-half-year stretch.

However, Charlie Nicholas levelled seven minutes later before grabbing his second of the day, and the eventual winner, just eight minutes from time when his strike took a deflection off Ronnie Whelan and went out of the reach of Bruce Grobbelaar in the Liverpool goal. 

Rush, who moved to Italy that summer having confirmed his plan to do so at the start of the season, believes he and his teammmates couldn’t have done any more to preserve his impressive accomplishment.

He recalls: “I remember walking around after we had lost. The supporters were disappointed. We'd tried our best but sometimes you need a bit of luck to win the thing.

"With my record going and my move to Juventus set up it felt like the end of an era.

"Maybe it was fate [because] after all those games and goals we'd never been beaten when I scored but the following week we went to Norwich and lost 2-1 and I scored then too."