Kenny Dalglish hailed his entire squad after Liverpool secured their first trip to Wembley in 16 years on Wednesday.
The 2-2 home draw with Manchester City saw the Reds through to the Carling Cup final 3-2 on aggregate, with Cardiff City of the Championship now the only obstacle to them securing a first trophy since the 2006 FA Cup.
However, that success over West Ham six years ago, the 2001 one against Arsenal, and the League Cup wins over Birmingham in 2001 and Manchester United in 2003, were all garnered at the Millennium Stadium. Liverpool have not played at the new Wembley stadium before – they last played in the old ground when losing the 1996 FA Cup final to Manchester United.
Wednesday evening twice saw City take the lead against the run of play, with Nigel de Jong and Edin Dzeko netting. However, Steven Gerrard’s penalty and a goal from ex-City – and ex-Cardiff – man Craig Bellamy meant that the better side over the two legs reached next month’s decider.
"I think it was a fantastic performance," Liverpool boss Dalglish was quoted as saying by his club’s official website.
"Although the game finished a draw, I think we were deserved qualifiers for the final.
"The boys were magnificent tonight and deserve a great deal of credit. Everybody, every single player in the first team squad apart from Fabio (Aurelio) played in this competition and have helped us to get through.
"The boys tonight were magnificent but the others put us in a position to be able to qualify for the final and everybody in the squad deserves credit for where we are going.
"The supporters were magnificent, it's a great reward for them for the loyalty and support they've shown us, so for everybody at Liverpool it’s been a fantastic evening.
"For us it’s a bit early to start analysing, but we'll just enjoy the moment and get ourselves ready for Saturday (another FA Cup meeting with Manchester United) as well."