Manchester United players celebrate beating Tottenham on penalties in the 2009 League Cup final at Wembley

The first time we beat Spurs at Wembley

Thursday 10 January 2019 15:00

Manchester United will face Tottenham Hotspur for the 191st time in all competitions this weekend, but it will only be the fourth time the sides have clashed at Wembley.

Two of the three previous meetings at the national stadium came last season, when the Reds were beaten 2-0 in the Premier League before emerging 2-1 winners in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final.

The first was almost 10 years ago when Sir Alex Ferguson’s side came out on top in a tight tussle in the 2009 League Cup final.

After a goalless 120 minutes, Ben Foster saved Jamie O’Hara’s penalty and Anderson netted the winning spotkick as United triumphed 4-1 in a shootout, at the expense of Harry Redknapp’s Spurs team.

Relive the occasion by watching our highlights video below…

When we beat Spurs to win the League Cup Video

When we beat Spurs to win the League Cup

Watch the highlights of our 2009 League Cup final success, when Ben Foster was a penalty-shootout hero...

The United XI that day featured a mixture of youth and experience. The likes of John O'Shea, captain Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Nani and Carlos Tevez were joined by youngsters Jonny Evans, Darron Gibson and Danny Welbeck, who were rewarded for their progress in the first half of the season with starts in the final. 

Foster was also given an opportunity in goal at Wembley as Sir Alex rested Edwin van der Sar and the no.12 proved to be the hero, making a crucial save to deny Aaron Lennon in normal time before saving from O'Hara in the shootout. 

Ronaldo, who was controversially booked for an alleged dive by referee Chris Foy, came close to winning it for the Reds late on in normal time, but the Portuguese star struck the post with a fierce shot.

Ryan Giggs, Tevez, Ronaldo and Anderson were successful for United from the spot in the shoot-out, but only Vedran Corluka scored for Spurs.

For the Reds, it was the third of four trophies we won in the 2008/09 season - the Community Shield, the Premier League and the Club World Cup being the others. We also came close to a second successive Champions League success, but were beaten 2-0 by Barcelona in the final in Rome.

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