Liverpool 2 Manchester United 0
Goals from England duo Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen and a superb display by goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek gave Liverpool their record seventh League Cup victory at the expense of Manchester United in Cardiff today.
Gerrard's first-half strike and a clinical shot from Owen five minutes from time secured a well deserved victory for Gerard Houllier's side.
With Arsenal looking unassailable in the league after their win over Charlton earlier in the day, United's hopes of avoiding a second successive season without any silverware now rest on winning the Champions League.
After a scrappy opening period, United came agonisingly close to taking the lead in the 22nd minute after the Liverpool defence accorded Paul Scholes the time and space to turn 40 yards out.
Scholes fed Ryan Giggs whose low cross passed through the legs of Jamie Carragher and onto the outstretched boot of Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose contact sent the ball spinning an inch to the right of Dudek's upright.
Liverpool's fans had to wait until ten minutes before the break to see their team mount a meaningful threat.
Gerrard was the architect of a counterattack that finished with Owen skipping round his England team-mate Rio Ferdinand with embarrassing ease inside the box.
The ball ran away from Owen on that occassion but Liverpool kicked on into a spell of pressure which yielded a goal six minutes from the break.
Picking up a short pass from Danny Murphy on the left of the United area, Gerrard had time to lift his head and unleash a shot that, with the help of a Beckham deflection, looped up and over Fabien Barthez.
Despite their brief spell of pressure, Liverpool barely deserved their lead and it took a goal line clearance from Stephane Henchoz to prevent Scholes equalising after Dudek had beaten out Veron's fierce drive a minute before the break.
But it was Liverpool who came out looking the sharper for the break and it took well-timed interventions from Wes Brown and Roy Keane to deny, Owen and Emile Heskey respectively.
Murphy then tested Barthez with a first time shot from Heskey's lay off. At the other end, van Nistelrooy's sharp turn and shot drew a good stop from Dudek.
With the United back line pushing forward, the danger of being caught on the break became increasingly real and Gerrard should have killed the match 25 minutes into the second period.
After robbing Mikael Silvestre on the edge of his own area, Gerrard released El Hadji Diouf and then sprinted 80 yards to pick up the return pass inside the box. But his shot did not match his endeavour and Barthez was able to push it round the post.
United hit back immediately and Dudek did well to deny Scholes before twice frustrating van Nistelrooy.
With time running out, United manager Alex Ferguson substituted centre-back Wes Brown and threw striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer into the fray.
But it was to no avail and Liverpool took advantage of United's stretched defences to kill the match four minutes from the end.
Silvestre carelessly lost possession on the half-way line, leaving Dietmar Hamman with the simple task of sending Owen sprinting away from Ferdinand to slot a low shot past the helpless Barthez.