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Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City
Match Reports, 22:00, January 25, 2012
Steven Gerrard and Craig Bellamy helped Liverpool seal a place in the Carling Cup final after seeing off Man City 3-2 on aggregate.
The Reds held a 1-0 lead from the semi-final first leg a fortnight ago going into the second leg at Anfield, but were pegged back by Nigel De Jong in the first half before Gerrard levelled from the penalty spot.
Edin Dzeko put City back ahead on the night, but Bellamy's strike against his former club made it 2-2 on the night and put Liverpool into a Wembley final for the first time since 1996 as they will face Cardiff on February 26.
Liverpool should have gone ahead on four minutes when Luis Enrique almost capitalised on an error from Aleksandar Kolarov as he failed to clear a cross into the City area but Joe Hart did well to save his effort with an outstretched foot.
Charlie Adam then forced a decent stop from the City shot-stopper on 11 minutes with a low strike from the edge of the area.
Bellamy turned the struggling Stefan Savic on the edge of the City area and hit a fierce drive which Hart could only parry away from his goal on 21 minutes.
However, City took the lead with a goal out of nothing on 31 minutes when David Silva teed up De Jong 25 yards from goal and he seemed to slip as he hit an effort at goal and it seemed to help curl the ball past Pepe Reina and into the top corner of the net.
Liverpool responded well to falling behind and got back on level terms on 40 minutes when Gerard scored from the penalty spot after Daniel Agger's shot inside the area bounced up off Micah Richards' arm via his leg and referee Phil Dowd harshly pointed to the spot.
Hart then saved City twice in the space of a minute early in the second half when he tipped away a close range Martin Skrtel toe-poke and then blocked a back-post Stewart Downing volley.
However City went back in front on 67 minutes when Dzeko was on hand to fire in from close range following a great left-wing run and cross from Kolarov.
But Liverpool got the vital equaliser on the night after 74 minutes when, following a good passing move, Bellamy exchanged passes with Glen Johnson in the area before coolly firing past Hart to send the Reds through to the final.
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