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Dalglish unfazed by sense of occasion Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish leads his side out for their long-awaited return to Wembley on Sunday confident his players can handle the burden of expectation.

The Reds have not won a trophy since the FA Cup in 2006 or been in a final since being beaten by AC Milan in the Champions League the following year.

Since then the personnel has changed significantly but Dalglish has faith in the experience of his squad to bring home some much-needed silverware.

"I'm not very emotional. I suppose like everything else in life every person is not going to act the same to situations," said Dalglish, who has made 27 appearances at Wembley as a player and manager.

"Emotion and nerves will be helpful to some and detrimental to others but is part and parcel of football and it is how you handle it.

"There are a lot of people with different personalities who will handle it totally differently.

"But if you are not going to enjoy getting to Wembley you have a bit of a problem. It didn't affect us (the all-conquering Liverpool side he played in) too badly I don't think.

"We had our share of victories, and we also lost, but I don't think we won because the other people were more affected by emotions than we were and I don't think we lost because we were more affected then them.

"A final is not really different from any other matches. Character and luck play a huge part in every game.

"You wouldn't say a final is just another game because it is a final at Wembley but all the other ingredients which go into getting the result are exactly the same.

"Whether you have experience of being somewhere (Wembley) before doesn't mean it is going to be helpful.

"I may have some experience, although it was a while ago, but Steve Clarke (coach) has been there more recently than me (with Chelsea) so he has experience as well." Liverpool enter the game as favourites against npower Championship opponents Cardiff.

But the Scot knows it would be dangerous to under-estimate a club who have been to Wembley more times than the Reds in the last five seasons, playing in the FA Cup final and Championship play-off.

"It's not necessarily more pressure. There is always going to have to be a favourite but you only get out of the match what you put in," he added.

"Favourites have lost before, although not too often, but we have to overcome Cardiff on the day.

"We will go there best prepared and see what happens. We won't jump ahead. We've got the final, which is one step, now let's see what we do when we get there.

"We will try to be as normal and as well prepared as we possibly can and make sure we get all the other things in the right order." Reds forward Craig Bellamy has recovered from the back problem which kept him out last weekend and is set to return to face his hometown club.

The Wales international had an injection to ease a spasm and has trained this week.

Cardiff midfielder Aron Gunnarsson says all the pressure will be on Liverpool.

The Welsh club are appearing in their first League Cup final and are the rank outsiders to secure the trophy against the heavily-fancied Merseyside giants.

While Cardiff will be keen to avoid another dose of Wembley heartache, having lost the 2008 FA Cup final and the 2010 Championship play-off final at the ground, Gunnarsson insists a desire to avoid a repeat of those defeats does not put any pressure on the Bluebirds.

He said: "Liverpool are a big club and we know that we are going to go in as underdogs so we have to go out there, hope for the best and enjoy a great occasion.

"We know that we need to have a great game, every single one of us will have to play well if we are to succeed.

"But we are going to enjoy it, there is a mix of nerves and excitement around the squad, which I think is a good mix for any athlete.

"There is no pressure on our backs because Liverpool are the favourites and hopefully that can help us just go out and savour a great game.

"This is the biggest match of my career. I have never been to Wembley to watch or to play, but I am going there to enjoy myself." Bluebirds boss Malky Mackay will hand late fitness tests to Mark Hudson and Stephen McPhail.

Cardiff vs Liverpool

Last modified 19:22 26/02/12

Cardiff pay penalty as Liverpool end trophy wait Liverpool's six-year wait for a trophy was ended by a Gerrard as they lifted the Carling Cup but it was Cardiff's Anthony, cousin of Reds captain Steven, who had the decisive involvement.

Liverpool triumphed 3-2 on penalties after the game was all-square at 2-2 after extra time.

Anthony Gerrard, on as a substitute in extra time, missed the penalty in a shoot-out which gave the Merseysiders' a record eighth League Cup.

It was cruel not only on the defender - who was consoled by his cousin at the end - but the rest of his team who had seen their early lead overtaken but remained resilient and found the strength to snatch an equaliser with two minutes of an absorbing final remaining.

Joe Mason had given the Bluebirds a first-half lead but goals from Martin Skrtel and, in extra time, Dirk Kuyt had put Kenny Dalglish's side within touching distance of the trophy before Ben Turner pegged them back.

So it went to spot-kicks, where Liverpool had lost only two in 12 previously, and although the early efforts were poor, Glen Johnson scored the fifth and Gerrard missed.

Their first visit to Wembley in 16 years was eventually worth the wait and the hope at Anfield, and among fans, will be that this cup will be the start of another era filled with silverware.

Over the last 40 years the Reds have won a trophy early in the decade and gone on to add to it.

In Dalglish they certainly have someone who knows plenty about accumulating cups of every kind and this victory put him alongside Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho as the only managers to win all three major domestic competitions.

They also equalled Manchester United's record of 15 domestic cup wins.

Things looked like they would go to plan for Dalglish's side when the Cardiff crossbar was rattled inside two minutes.

Steven Gerrard raced 60 yards on a quick counter-attack but Johnson's shot which beat goalkeeper Tom Heaton and came back off the crossbar, with Gerrard blazing over the rebound, was the closest they came to threatening Cardiff's goal in the first half.

The Bluebirds created two better chances and, crucially, converted one.

Having snatched at a shot from Don Cowie's clever movement and backheel Kenny Miller did not make the same mistake twice.

The former Rangers front man was afforded all the time and space he required in the 19th minute when he picked up the ball just outside the area.

When Daniel Agger eventually closed him down Miller slid a pass into the space behind the centre-back where Mason collected and fired beyond Jose Reina.

The rest of the half saw Liverpool dominate but rarely trouble Cardiff.

Stewart Downing was their most creative outlet with a succession of crosses from the left but the Bluebirds dealt with them well enough, relying on Liverpool's over-complication and profligacy.

Charlie Adam flashed a low drive narrowly wide of Heaton's left-hand post while late in the half Andy Carroll was denied a clear close-range shooting opportunity when Cardiff captain Mark Hudson's outstretched leg hooked the ball away.

Liverpool fans tried to evoke memories of their second-half comeback in Istanbul in the 2005 Champions League final with a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone at the break.

The situation was not quite as dire as that night but certainly Dalglish's side needed to find more composure and their clinical side.

Luis Suarez was starting to have more of an influence and drew the first real save from Heaton with an angled shot and was denied by Kevin McNaughton's perfectly-timed intervention just as he was about to unload from close range.

The appearance of former Cardiff striker and boyhood fan Craig Bellamy for the ineffectual Jordan Henderson brought, probably for the first time in cup final history, a standing ovation from both sets of fans.

Liverpool's salvation, however, was to come from an unexpected source.

Downing's 60th-minute corner was nodded on by Carroll to Suarez whose header came back off the post and Skrtel showed the composure in front of goal unbefitting a centre-back by taking a touch and slamming home the equaliser.

Turner had a chance to be Cardiff's hero with six minutes to go but planted his far-post header into the side-netting.

Miller should have won it for the Bluebirds in normal time when a quickly-taken free-kick caught the defence napping but the Scot, in acres of space in the penalty area, shot over with the goal at his mercy.

Barely a minute into extra time Andrew Taylor cleared Suarez's header from a Bellamy corner off the line before Anthony Gerrard finally got the chance to square-up against his more illustrious cousin when Hudson was forced off with cramp.

Three minutes into the second period of extra time Liverpool took the lead when Kuyt drilled home the rebound from his own cross.

The Dutchman then headed a shot off the line but got himself in a tangle at the resulting corner to allow Turner to force penalties.