"This one and the first final against United were the hardest," the Ivory Coast international said.

"Liverpool is a difficult team to play and we got a great result because after losing against Newcastle it was difficult for us losing at home but I'm glad we won.

"It's the first step."

Defender Ashley Cole paid tribute to the big Ivorian whose goal was his eighth strike in eight appearances at Wembley for Chelsea.

"It's always nice to be in finals, disappointing in league but to come here and win another medal is an amazing feeling," Cole said.

"Didier seems to step up and score when needed."

Goalkeeper Petr Cech was adamant the controversial goal-line clearance late on, when the match officials deemed Andy Carroll's powerful header to have not crossed the line, to be the correct decision.

"I don't think it (Andy Carroll's header) was over the line," the Czech Republic netminder said.

"If the ball was behind the line I could haven't put it out.

"I'm sure it was not behind. I haven't seen it but I'm persuaded it wasn't in and I knew it from the first moment.

"It's fantastic what we've achieved and still have one more final to go and hopefully we can make it two.

"I've won it for the fourth time and it doesn't matter how many times you win it the atmosphere is always the same."

Unsurprisingly Liverpool striker Carroll was of the opinion that the goal should have been given.

"I thought it (his header) was over the line and you know better than me but I thought it was," he said.

"I thought it hit the other side of the bar but I haven't seen it back.

"I thought it was unlucky had a few chances and could have put them away but it wasn't to be.

"We came here to win, it's been disappointing in the league, we got here and it was unlucky because it would have taken us into extra time.

"I did the best I could when I came on and we were unlucky."

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was disappointed with his side's lacklustre first hour which left them two goals behind.

"They were the best team for the first hour they scored a goal and a great block on Craig Bellamy's volley but we finished strongly and maybe if we'd started that way we'd be happier than we are now," he said.

"I thought it (Carroll's late header) went in but if it hasn't then give the officials the credit they deserve.

"We've just got to learn our lessons from it and understand we can't start the game like that.

"We'll assess the season at the end of the season.

"For the first hour they were better than us maybe a bit of naivety from our point of view or experience for them but if we had more of the game with that pace and commitment maybe we'd have got a better score."

With just eight minutes left Carroll thought he had equalised when his powerful far-post header appeared to be on its way in until Chelsea keeper Petr Cech somehow clawed the ball clear.

Television replays indicated that the match officials had probably just about got the decision right but it is one which the red side of Merseyside will dispute long into the night.

Apart from a wild effort from Didier Drogba which flew high and wide there was little to grab the attention in the opening exchanges until Liverpool gifted Chelsea the opener on 11 minutes.

A mistake by Jay Spearing in midfield gave possession to Juan Mata and the little Spaniard found Ramires who took advantage of yet more poor positional play from Liverpool left-back Jose Enrique to race clear and the Brazilian struck past Pepe Reina at the near post, with the Spanish keeper not covering himself in glory.

More poor defending almost gifted Liverpool an immediate response when Branislav Ivanovic cleared straight to Craig Bellamy but his first-time strike was blocked by John Terry.

The Blues posed marginally the greater threat but were generally content to let the first half pass with Liverpool retaining possession far away from the danger area and virtually no service provided for lone striker Luis Suarez.

The Merseysiders started the second half brightly but they found themselves 2-0 behind when the Wembley specialist Drogba struck on 52 minutes.

Frank Lampard won the ball in midfield and found the Ivorian just inside the Liverpool box and despite being shadowed by Martin Skrtel, the big striker found the bottom corner of the net for his eighth goal in eight appearances at Wembley for the Blues.

It was more sloppy defending which allowed the Reds back into the game when an attempted clearance from Jose Bosingwa ricocheted into the path of substitute Andy Carroll and the £35million pound striker turned well before rifling an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

Liverpool took command of the game with Carroll a constant threat to a creaking Chelsea defence and with the Londoners offering little going forward it was a case of holding on to their slender lead.

In a frantic end to the game Liverpool piled forward but apart from the controversial goal-line incident involving Carroll they created few clear-cut chances.

For Chelsea, the first half of a potentially historic cup double, for Liverpool just a Carling Cup trophy to show for their lavish spending last summer.

Dalglish believes a second piece of silverware, having ended a six-year wait, represents progress in itself as Liverpool would become the first club to complete the domestic cup double twice.

But the Reds boss knows sooner rather than later his side have to address the challenge of regaining a top-four spot if only for the revenue stream, with club accounts published this week recording a near-£50million loss.

Not that he will be mentioning that to his players.

"The players don't go on the pitch thinking about finance, they are thinking about winning the FA Cup final," said the Scot. "It is an achievement to get there and a greater achievement to win it.

"It's always special when you win a game and somebody puts a bit of silverware in your hand afterwards. But I don't think it's a defining result for either club.

"They've got the cup final and they've got the Champions League coming up so they're fighting on three fronts (Chelsea are still challenging for the top four) to try to get success."

The last time Liverpool reached the FA Cup final he scored two spectacular goals as the Reds beat West Ham on penalties in 2006 in what has been dubbed 'the Gerrard final'.

The year before that Gerrard had been the inspiration as Liverpool came from three goals down to win the Champions League and Reds fans will be hoping he can recapture some of that magic for Saturday's game at Wembley.

Liverpool face Chelsea at the home of English football looking to complete a domestic double after they lifted the Carling Cup in February.

Having struggled in the Premier League since that win over Cardiff, supporters could be forgiven for looking towards Gerrard to inspire their team again in a final.

However, the 31-year-old has rubbished talk Liverpool rely on him and says it will need to be a team effort to get the better of Chelsea.

"I don't think so. We beat Everton in a massive game at Wembley (the semi-final) not so long ago and I didn't get the goals," he said.

"So we've certainly got players in and around the squad who can be match-winners. Not all the pressure's on me. It's up to everyone to deliver trophies for this club.

"Maybe the knockout nature of the cups has brought the best out of us this season.

"But what it also shows is that when we are down, under the cosh and under pressure, this team is never beaten."

However, Carragher believes the ill-feeling between the two clubs is not as bad as it once was although for the duration of the game this weekend, that statement may well seem a little misguided.

The 34-year-old claims hostilities were at their worst during Jose Mourinho's time in charge at Chelsea, with the League Cup final in 2005 proving a flash point after the then Blues manager's infamous finger to the lips gesture towards the Reds fans during the 3-2 defeat.

Liverpool did gain revenge soon afterwards as they dumped Mourinho's men out of the Champions League, with the Portuguese tactician left to bemoan Luis Garcia's 'ghost' goal, which still rankles with him even today.

It's fair to say the two clubs have contested some big games in the last few years as highlighted by the fact that Saturday's final will be the 31st fixture between them since the 2004/05 season, and they are set to meet again on Tuesday in the Premier League.

Carragher told reporters: "It (the rivalry) started six or seven years ago for different reasons. It is still a big rivalry but I think it had more to it then.

"Maybe Mr Mourinho had something to do with it. We seemed to be playing them four or five times a season.

"They are a great side and have had great players. We respect them and I am sure they respect us."

The result left Roberto Di Matteo's men four points adrift of the Barclays Premier League top four with just two games remaining and put a serious dent in the caretaker manager's hopes of being appointed full-time.

By the time Chelsea next play in the league, they could already be condemned to finishing fifth or six if two of Newcastle, Tottenham and Arsenal win this weekend.

The Blues cannot afford to wallow in Wednesday night's defeat if they are to beat Liverpool in Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley and stay on course for one of the greatest seasons in their history.

Acknowledging beating Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in just over a fortnight was Chelsea's only realistic hope of avoiding failure to reach the Champions League for the first time since Roman Abramovich bought the club, Mikel said: "Now we have to concentrate.

"Everyone is going to say that the only chance we have now is to win the Champions League final.

"It is what everyone wants, it is what the fans want and it is what we want.

"But we have to make sure now that we win on Saturday in the cup final and make sure that we don't let the cup final go past us."

Gerrard believes it is also crucial to pick up some momentum to take into next season and if they make it a cup double they will be able to do that.

"We hope it can kick-start us for next season. We are all aware we have underachieved in the league and the squad of players is certainly better than where we are," he told The Times.

"We will assess the season and if we win two trophies, I think it would alleviate the pressure slightly.

"People will judge us after Saturday. People will say, 'You haven't done well in the league,' but we can say, 'Yes, but we have won two cups.' I think that's a fair argument."

Manager Kenny Dalglish had hoped to have the Scotland international back before the end of the campaign but, while he will not need surgery, the 26-year-old has been told that he will not play again this season.

Confirming the news, Dalglish warned Stuart Pearce that Adam would not be fit to be considered for the Great Britain's Olympic team for this summer's London Games.

"There is no operation needed but he won't play this season," said Dalglish.

"And I would think if they had any designs on having him in the Olympics he wouldn't be fit for that either."

Last week he was named the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year and becomes just the seventh player to win both awards in the same year. Previous double recipients include Denis Bergkamp, Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Thierry Henry.  

Van Persie’s performances have been pivotal in helping the Gunners recover from a slow start to the campaign to climb to third place in the Barclays Premier League. They are now almost guaranteed to qualify for the Champions League for next season. Van Persie, 28, will receive the prestigious FWA award at a gala dinner at the Lancaster London Hotel on May 3rd.

FWA chairman Steve Bates, chief football writer at The People, said: "Robin was the overwhelming choice of our members this season and deservedly so after a magnificent campaign for Arsenal.

"The quality of his goals, attacking movement and consistency in a turbulent season for The Gunners has been eye-catching.

"The considerable size of his majority in the votes cast by our members reflected the general view that he has been the season's most outstanding individual performer."

The FWA Player of the Year Award has been running since 1948.

It adds more misery on supporters who have been allocated 25,000 tickets for the final - almost 7,000 fewer than their semi-final against Everton last weekend.

"Sometimes that is the problem when fans are taken for granted - not just our fans but those at all football clubs," said Dalglish.

"That is the decision which has been made and it's been made outside of our control. It could have been made a bit easier for them but they are fantastic fans and they will get there."

His late effort in the 2007 Champions League final was not enough to prevent AC Milan gaining revenge for their Istanbul defeat two years previously but his extra-time strike in February's Carling Cup helped the side to beat Cardiff on penalties.

He may have missed out on an appearance in last weekend's semi-final against Everton but he backs himself to perform in the big games.

"I am proud that, after the Champions League final and the final of the Carling Cup, for the third time I am with Liverpool in a final," the Dutchman said.

"I will do everything to ensure that in the third final I prove my worth with a goal."

The former miner from Staffordshire was also the man in the middle for this season's Community Shield, as well as the 2010 Carling Cup final.

Dowd, who has been refereeing for 28 years, said: "I was honoured and privileged when I found out. You obviously hope as a referee that you might one day be considered for the FA Cup final, so it will certainly be the highlight of my career so far.

"I would never have thought in my wildest dreams that when I first started refereeing that one day I'd be refereeing the FA Cup final.

"Watching the final as a boy was something I always loved to do."

The married father of four will also spare a thought on cup final day for his own father, who passed away three years ago.

"It was always an ambition of his to see me referee the FA Cup final, so I'll have a special thought for him on the day," he said.

Dowd will be assisted by Stuart Burt and Andrew Garratt, along with fourth official Michael Jones and reserve assistant referee Simon Long.

With Spurs already 1-0 down thanks to Didier Drogba's opener, they were compelled to throw men forward, and even though Gareth Bale pulled a goal back, they were ultimately hammered thanks to late goals from Ramires, Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda.

The defeat denied Adebayor his first appearance in an FA Cup final and he blames only one man.

"To be honest, we have to blame the referee," he said. "I think we have done well and he has made a lot of mistakes and made a lot of wrong decisions."

He added: "We are all disappointed. But what do you want me to tell you? How many goals scored this season were disallowed that were onside?

"To be honest, I'm just tired of it and everyone is talking about goal-line technology.

"They have to make something happen because it's killing the league, it's killing the FA Cup, it's killing the game, it's killing everything."

Replays confirmed that protests from Ledley King and his fellow Spurs defenders were well grounded as the ball never crossed the line and it has lead to increased calls for goal line technology to be introduced.

"The second goal was a disaster for us," said Spurs manager Redknapp. "It was an honest mistake by the referee but it was nowhere near the line.

"The referee has made a big mistake. He hasn't done it on purpose but I don't see how he could give the goal.

"It wasn't as if someone kicked it away and it all happened so quickly.

"He must have guessed because he couldn't have been sure. He has made an honest decision but has made a mistake - but he's not done it on purpose.

"I spoke to him and he said he feels worse than I do about it - I said 'I don't think so.' He said he feels bad and he's going to have a bad week but there is nothing we can do about it now."

The debate over the introduction of goal-line technology continues to race and FIFA met last Froday to discuss whether the technology should be implemented.

Redknapp is a firm advocator of it and believes it should be introduced sooner rather than later.

"Goal-line technology has to come into the game. You can't keep having situations like that," he said.

"It was an amazing game, I thought we played brilliantly and we deserved to win with the amount we created."

Chelsea captain John Terry, who got the final touch on the scramble that led to the second goal, was much clearer about the validity of the decision.

"I thought Mata's strike hit me and didn't go over, but the linesman's seen it and given it," he said. "I honestly don't think it went over the line but linesman gave it and there's nothing we can do about that."

Terry agreed with his team-mate Lampard's assessment of his side's display believing it was "..a great performance and a great result."

Spurs captain Ledley King was bemused with the decision that allowed the second goal and felt it left them exposed chasing the game.

"I didn't think it crossed the line, I don't see how the referee could have seen it.

"We got ourselves back in the game but we got caught out when they picked us off."

Gareth Bale pulled one back for Spurs, but as the north Londoners piled forward in search of an equaliser, first Ramires and then Frank Lampard, with a swerving free-kick, and finally Florent Malouda in injury-time gave the result a damning stamp a spirited Spurs side didn’t deserve.

The game got off to a scrappy start with big stage nerves, even for these teams containing many grizzled veterans, getting to both sides with little fluency or composed play on show in the early stages.

Neither side were able to get their game going and, save for a through-ball that Juan Mata just failed to collect when clean through, there was little threat posed at either end until near the end of the first half when Harry Redknapp’s side almost took the lead on 38 minutes.

Emmanuel Adebayor's cross was flicked on by Rafael van der Vaart for Aaron Lennon, who knocked it goalwards but the Chelsea captain John Terry somehow cleared with his knees while falling.

Spurs were again nearly rewarded just two minutes later when van der Vaart's cross, intended for Adebayor, misses everyone and the ball flies through to hit Petr Cech's right-hand post with the Chelsea keeper left stranded.

But Chelsea took the lead just before half-time when a trademark thunderous strike by Didier Drogba from a  long Frank Lampard pass gave Spurs keeper Carlo Cudicini no chance as the ball flew past him into the top corner of the net.

Then came Martin Atkinson’s moment of madness to double Chelsea’s lead four minutes after half-time.

Spurs hopes’ were lifted seven minutes later when Adebayor raced clear of David Luiz, who pulled up injured while giving chase, and was upended by Petr Cech.

Luckily for the Chelsea goalkeeper, who would otherwise have surely been sent off, the ball rolled to Gareth Bale who slotted home into the empty net.
Spurs pressed forward for the equaliser but when Ramires lifted the ball over the advancing Cudicini on 77 minutes the game was over and the Blues added another two as Spurs’ spirit wilted and advance to meet Liverpool in next month’s showpiece final.

But an equally disastrous blunder from Distin gifted Luis Suarez an equaliser before Andy Carroll silenced the doubters by ramming home the winner three minutes from time.

"Sylvain is really down," said Moyes.

"He has been here a couple of times before and has won the FA Cup before with Portsmouth.

"He knows exactly what it means and how important it is.

"He has been great for us so far.

"But I said there would be little between the teams. I thought there would be defining moments and they were there for all to see."

Nikica Jelavic had given Everton a first-half lead but that spurred Liverpool into action.

A mistake by Sylvain Distin in the second half handed an equaliser to Luis Suarez, before Carroll's header from a Craig Bellamy free-kick sent Kenny Dalglish's side into raptures.

The opening goal also came from a defensive error, as a mix-up between Daniel Agger and Jamie Carragher saw the ball end up breaking into the path of Jelavic off Tim Cahill.

The Croatian made no mistake and slotted a fine finish past Brad Jones in the Liverpool goal.

This lit a fire under the backsides of the Liverpool players, with Carroll and Steven Gerrard testing Tim Howard, while Jelavic curled a free-kick wide just before half-time.

Carroll had a glorious chance to head Liverpool level three minutes into the second half, but somehow headed wide when unmarked from a Stewart Downing cross.

Jones had just one save to make in the second half, from a Leon Osman effort from distance, as Liverpool went in search of the equaliser.

That came when Carroll's header into the path of Suarez was missed by Distin, and the Uruguayan advanced before side-footing past Tim Howard.

Carroll then missed another glorious chance, shooting wide on his preferred left foot.

Liverpool brought on Craig Bellamy and Maxi, and it would prove third time lucky for Carroll. Gerrard was fouled by Seamus Coleman and Bellamy stepped up to take the free-kick, which Carroll headed deftly past Howard after getting front of Marouane Fellaini.

Maxi had a fine chance to make it 3-1 in the final minutes, but Howard pulled out a fantastic stop.

And, as Mata prepares for his 50th appearance for the Londoners, he feels Roberto Di Matteo's men have a great opportunity to progress to the final given that Harry Redknapp's Spurs have only won one game in their last eight matches, while the Blues have lost just once in 11 since Andre Villas-Boas was sacked.

"This semi-final against Tottenham is huge for us," Mata said, according to The Sun. "The FA Cup is a special competition and we want to be back at Wembley for the final next month.

"I played there for Spain in November. We killed England but we lost 1-0! Frank Lampard! But what an unbelievable stadium.

"We've drawn both games against Tottenham in the league this season, so it will not be easy. They have many players at a great level. But so do we.

"Maybe a month ago they were in a better position and we weren't doing so well. Now we're in a good moment and we have to show that at Wembley."

Last month's 3-0 defeat was the Toffees' second to their near-neighbours this season already and their recent record against them is unimpressive to say the least with five wins in 34 meetings.

But Howard said revenge should never be the overriding factor going into any game, let alone one of such significance.

"We know it is going to be battle but I don't think we are going to cloud our judgement with results which happened two or three weeks ago," said the United States international. "All that will do is cloud our thinking and we need to be ready for the game. "

The big games are all about management: you cannot go into it willy-nilly because it is too big an occasion.

You have to manage your emotions and the crowd and also, because it is such a big occasion, I think certain players need to calm other players down.

"From a fairytale aspect there is an element of settling scores but it is about keeping a clear head. Sometimes when you are out for blood, out for revenge and trying to set something right you start to allow your judgement to be jaded. We have to be that more level-headed."