City Flashback - 2012 | Turner levels vs. Liverpool at Wembley
With the Bluebirds facing Premier League giants Liverpool in the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday, we look back at an iconic goal scored in another cup tie against the Reds from 2012.
City began their League Cup campaign with two tricky ties, with our opening two wins over Oxford United and Huddersfield Town both secured in extra-time.
The Third-Round tie against Leicester City was another to go all the way, as the Bluebirds progressed with a 7-6 victory on penalties.
After more comfortable wins over Burnley and Premier League outfit Blackburn Rovers, City booked a Semi-Final spot against Crystal Palace.
Despite falling to a 1-0 loss in the opening leg, Anthony Gardner’s own-goal levelled proceedings at CCS. With the game going all the way to a shootout, Craig Conway, Rudy Gestede and Peter Whittingham netted to send City to Wembley.
The Bluebirds’ reward was a clash with Liverpool in front of a bumper crowd of 89,044 at Wembley. The Reds team, coached by Kenny Dalglish, contained the likes of Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and Jamie Carragher.
City made the perfect start, taking the lead against the odds after 19 minutes. Kenny Miller played a clever ball in behind the Liverpool defence, with Joe Mason racing through on goal and applying a clinical finish to open the scoring.
City put in a brilliant display, but it was the Reds who levelled in the second period, with Martin Škrtel netting from close range.
As the game went to extra-time for the fifth time in City’s League Cup campaign, Liverpool took the lead through Dutch international Dirk Kuyt just twelve minutes from time.
Despite suffering that setback, the Bluebirds continued to pile men forward in search of a late leveller. A dangerous corner delivery from Whittingham fell to Filip Kiss, who saw his close-range effort headed off the line by goalscorer Kuyt, with City agonisingly close to an equaliser.
From Whittingham's subsequent delivery, City’s got their reward with Ben Turner stabbing the ball home. The arrival of Aron Gunnarsson in the penalty area made a huge difference, with the Icelandic midfielder flicking the ball into the path of Turner.
The defender, wrestling with Kuyt, poked the ball home from close-range, sending the City supporters into raptures before producing an iconic celebration in front of the Bluebirds end.
Taking the game to a penalty shootout with an inspired performance, Don Cowie and Whittingham found the net, but it wasn’t enough for the Bluebirds to get their hands on the Cup, falling to a 3-2 defeat in the shootout.
Despite narrowly missing out at the final hurdle in the Final, the brilliant performance and Turner’s equaliser goes down as a highlight in City's modern history.
