Liverpool beat Manchester City to reach the final, whereas Cardiff progressed via a penalty shoot-out against Crystal Palace.

Despite missing their first two penalties, Liverpool won the shoot-out 3–2 to win the League Cup for a record eighth time.

They finished the season in 6th place in the 2011–12 Football League Championship, reaching the playoffs where they were beaten by West Ham United over two-legs.

The match played at the Kassam Stadium saw Cardiff take the lead in the 10th minute when Craig Conway scored.

Cardiff equalised two minutes into stoppage time when Don Cowie headed the ball in from close range.

The match, played at Exeter's home ground, St James Park was won by Liverpool; goals from Luis Suárez, Maxi Rodríguez and Andy Carroll helped the team win 3–1.

Brighton pulled a goal back courtesy of an Ashley Barnes penalty kick, but were unable to score an equaliser; the match finished 2–1 to Liverpool.

City tried to score an equaliser but to no avail, and the match finished 2–2, with Liverpool progressing to the final courtesy of a 3–2 aggregate victory.

[17] Cardiff were appearing in their first League Cup final; they had previously reached the semi-final of the competition in the 1965–66 season, when they were beaten by West Ham United 5–1 on aggregate.

Captain Mark Hudson had a calf problem, while midfielder Stephen McPhail had missed Cardiff's last four matches as he was suffering from Sjögren's syndrome, an immune system disorder.

Despite missing the match against Brighton, Dalglish was confident that Daniel Agger and Craig Bellamy would be fit for the final.

[28] Going into the match Liverpool had not won a trophy since they beat West Ham United in the 2006 FA Cup Final.

This decision was made to avoid spectators jeering the anthems, as happened during the 2008 FA Cup Final between Portsmouth and Cardiff.

Liverpool lined up in a 4–2–3–1 formation, with Andy Carroll starting as the lone striker, with Luis Suárez playing behind him and Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing either side.

Immediately afterwards Johnson's cross was cleared by Mark Hudson, the ball fell to Charlie Adam who sent his shot just wide of the Cardiff goal.

[35] Two minutes later Cardiff had a chance to extend their lead; Whittingham went past Agger and passed to Don Cowie, who back heeled the ball to Miller, his subsequent shot went wide of the Liverpool goal.

Downing took a corner kick, which was headed on by Carroll to Suárez, whose header hit the post, it rebounded to Škrtel; his shot went into the Cardiff goal to level the match at 1–1.

[35] Before the start of extra time Cardiff made their first substitution of the match, goalscorer Mason was replaced by Filip Kiss.

[35] Liverpool had the first chance to score in extra time, but Suárez's header was cleared off the line by Andrew Taylor.

[34] Cardiff appeared to be playing for a penalty shoot-out, as they were positioning the majority of their team behind the ball and in front of their goal.

Bellamy went past two men down the left hand side of the pitch before exchanging passes with Kuyt, however his subsequent shot went wide.

[34] Just after the start of the second half of extra time Cardiff made their final substitution, replacing McNaughton with Darcy Blake.

Two minutes later Kuyt made a run from deep in the Liverpool half, his initial shot was blocked, but the ball rebounded towards him.

[34] Cardiff won another from the throw, which found Kiss, whose shot was cleared off the line of the Liverpool goal by Kuyt for another corner.

[35] The subsequent corner was headed on by Gunnarsson to Turner, who beat Kuyt to the ball and put his shot past Reina into the Liverpool goal to level the score at 2–2.

The victory meant that Dalglish became the seventh manager to win all three major domestic trophies in English football.

They all had the strength of character to stand up and take a penalty in front of 90,000 people and the world watching in a pressure situation.

[40] Liverpool's league form continued to falter after the final; they won four of their last thirteen matches and ended the season in eighth place.

[43] Despite the loss, they only needed to win one more in their remaining thirteen matches to finish in 6th place and qualify for the Championship playoffs.

[44] They faced third placed West Ham United, in the playoffs, which were contested over two-legs, with one at each team's home ground.