Wembley is the destination where the season’s first piece of major silverware is decided as Manchester City take on Sunderland in the 2014 Capital One Cup Final live on Sky Sports.
Manuel Pellegrini goes in search of what could potentially be the first of three domestic trophies but Gus Poyet and his Sunderland side will aim to create their own piece of history and inflict another cup upset on City under the arches of the national stadium.
Manchester City will be looking to add the League Cup to their Premier League title of 2012 and FA Cup in 2011, but will want to banish the fresh memory of being last season’s losing FA Cup finalists to Wigan Athletic.
Sunderland, making their debut at the re-built Wembley Stadium, will be competing in their first major final since the 1992 FA Cup and are hunting a first tournament success since winning the 1973 FA Cup when they were a Second Division club.
Both sides are competing for the iconic Georgian-style trophy, the same piece of silverware that was handed to Aston Villa, the very first winners of the competition, back in 1961.
The two teams booked their berths in the final in dramatically different ways.
City saw off West Ham United in overwhelmingly convincing style in the semi-finals, while the Black Cats battled past Manchester United in a thriller at Old Trafford in the second leg.
Pellegrini’s side ran rampant against West Ham United in their
semi-final, claiming a 9-0 aggregate victory.
West Ham were abject in the first leg and City made sure to punish them, scoring six goals without ever breaking a sweat.
They then completed the rout at the Boleyn Ground and cantered into their first League Cup final in 38 years.
Sunderland, on the other hand, did things the hard way. Drawn against Manchester United, they took a 2-1 advantage into the second leg but still had plenty of work to do.
Jonny Evans cancelled out their lead eight minutes before the break and the game ended up going to extra time.
The stalemate was broken two minutes from the end when David De Gea inexplicably allowed Phil Bardsley’s strike to wriggle past him, but still Sunderland were denied.
Javier Hernández equalised with seconds left on the clock and forced a penalty shoot-out.
What followed was an almost farcical flurry of wild misses and tame efforts that eventually saw Sunderland emerge as 2-1 winners.
City’s vastly superior resources have made them many people’s runaway favourites, but the Black Cats have more than demonstrated their giant-killing credentials.
Not only have they already dispatched Chelsea and Manchester United in the cup, they’ve also recorded back-to-back victories over their high-flying opponents in their last two league meetings.
The League Cup winners be crowned this Sunday as Manchester City and Sunderland battle it out at Wembley Stadium for the season’s first major honours.
Sky Sports will be the only place to see the drama unfold live from Wembley Stadium.
Build-up from Wembley begins with a special edition of Goals On Sunday live from Wembley with Ben Shephard and Chris Kamara at 9.30am.
Compared to recent years, the 2014 Capital One Cup will kick off earlier than usual at 2.00pm.
Ben Shephard will return to present Sky Sports’ live and exclusive coverage from Wembley with its 90-minute build-up show beginning at 12.30pm.
Joining him in the studio will be three former League Cup winners, including legendary Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips, who lifted this trophy with Birmingham in 2011.
Niall Quinn, who made over 200 appearances for both finalists after picking up the League Cup with Arsenal in 1987, and former Liverpool captain Jamie Redknapp, who has two winners’ medals from this competition, will join him in the Wembley studio.
Match commentary comes from Martin Tyler and Gary Neville.
BBC Sport has free-to-air highlights of the 2014 League Cup Final which will be shown on BBC One and BBC One HD at 11.30pm, straight after Match of the Day 2.
Manish Bhasin will present the 45-minute show with analysis from Steve Claridge and Leroy Rosenior in the studio.
Match commentary from Wembley comes from Guy Mowbray and Kevin Kilbane.
BBC Radio 5 live will broadcast live radio commentary of the final in 5 live Sport on Sunday afternoon.
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League Cup Final ONLY on Sky Sports!? What a damn disgrace! There are so many football fans who don’t have Sky or like me refuse to pay the extortionate cost for 1 or 2 decent matches. BBC only showing highlights! About time the TV license was scrapped when you show the license paying fans only scant highlights!