Chelsea Wins FA Cup After Beating Livepool 2-1 (VIDEO)

Chelsea's captain John Terry (L) and Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel (R) celebrate their 2-1 win at the final whistle of the FA Cup final football match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in London, England on May 5, 2012.

WEMBLEY, England — Chelsea won the FA Cup for the fourth time in six seasons, beating Liverpool 2-1 Saturday on a second-half goal by Didier Drogba.

Didier became the first player to score in four finals and helped the Blues survive a late onslaught by Liverpool in the 131st final.

Ramires put Chelsea in front after 11 minutes, capitalizing on blunders by Liverpool. In the 52nd, Drogba scored his eighth goal in eight games at Wembley. He sent the ball through defender Martin Skrtel's legs and into the net after being fed by Frank Lampard.

"He is my hero," Lampard said. "No striker I have ever played with has scored so many important goals in finals."

Liverpool substitute Andy Carroll scored in the 64th minute after working his way around Chelsea captain John Terry. He thought he had the tying goal as well when his header was swatted away on the goal line via the crossbar by Petr Cech. The referee waved off Liverpool's appeals for a goal and replays failed to show the entire ball had crossed the line.

Chelsea now awaits the Champions League final in two weeks against Bayern Munich, maintaining its strong play since Roberto Di Matteo became interim manager two months ago. He succeeded Andre Villas-Boas when the team was in free fall.

"He has been brilliant," Lampard said. "He has turned the club around."

Terry became the first captain to lift the FA Cup four times with the same club.

"It's fantastic, it's what we live for," Terry said. "At times people have slated us as too old, past it or not together but as a team we come together and unite when our backs are against the wall and we've done that superbly in the last 16 or 17 games."

For both Chelsea and Liverpool, the FA Cup provided a distraction from miserable Premier League seasons, with both teams out of the top four Champions League qualification places.

"We've been heavily criticized this season and we've got the trophy and have the chance for another one," Di Matteo said. "It's been a difficult season but the players have made the club proud. It's been hard work but we came through it."

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Comments

[butchcliff]

06:11 AM on 05/07/2012

FA Cup doesn't seem to get the respect it used to. Seems anti-climatic nowadays

[LuLou Murder]

08:37 PM on 05/05/2012

Chelsea's not out of Champions League yet. If they beat Bayern Munich, they go as the defending champions, regardless of where they finish in the EPL.

[olafTheAwesome]

04:10 PM on 05/05/2012

They robbed us once again in the 82nd minute with that goal they refused to recognize. That's why video technology is needed urgently in football. Anyway, congrats Chelski. See you again next season.

papapj, where are you mate?

[papapj]

07:32 PM on 05/05/2012

I'm right here, olaf....good game, it was, and Andy Carroll should have been on from the start to make it more interesting.

But now you have to do the right thing...dontcha!

[olafTheAwesome]

01:35 AM on 05/06/2012

Right, I gotta fan you as promised mate. I accept that you beat us this time. Enjoy the FA cup, but keep in mind that you will return it to us next season. That with Andy Caroll, those are the mistakes a manager makes, which one later regrets in hindsight. The kid keeps showing that he was well worth the millions paid for him, despite his many critics.

Now I'll make another promise. Because I dislike Bayern Munich more than Chelsea, I promise to support Chelsea in the Champions League final, for the first time in my life, then shower thoroughly with Lysol afterwards lol

[mediamarv]

03:14 PM on 05/05/2012

"Chelsea Wins FA Cup After Beating Livepool 2-1"

Hee, hee, this is just too easy!! Must be a shortage of "r's" at AOL.