Last year Spanish coach Rafael Benitez finished his first season at Liverpool with a bang as he steered the side to a memorable Champions League triumph in Istanbul.

This season, the Reds will again be involved in another remarkable showdown - a clash with West Ham at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, where the FA Cup will be up for grabs, this afternoon.

Last May, Liverpool were considered the underdogs in the final against Milan. Yet, the Reds silenced their critics when they came from 0-3 down to carry the silverware after a penalty shootout.

Against West Ham, Liverpool are touted as favourites but Benitez - a great tactician since his days at Valencia where he left Real Madrid and Barcelona in his wake to win the championship crown twice - has learnt the lesson fast and is aware that in the FA Cup the form book is thrown out of the window.

Benitez's first go at the competition ended miserably when he watched his side lose at Championship side Burnley 0-1 at the first hurdle in one of the biggest shocks of the FA Cup.

West Ham have also been under the spotlight. Last season, they won promotion to the Premier League under the guidance of Alan Pardew, arguably among the best motivators in the game.

In their first season in the top flight, the Hammers sought to keep away from the strugglers and hover in safe waters. Besides a top-ten finish, West Ham also succeeded in reaching the FA Cup final. Since Liverpool will play in the Champions League again, West Ham have already earned a passport to the UEFA Cup - another feather in the cap for Pardew.

West Ham look forward to European action in 2006/07 with a talented young side.

Pardew is keeping his fingers crossed that the aces in his pack, names like Nigel Reo-Coker, Dean Ashton and Anton Ferdinand, would not seek pastures new.

In the not-too-distant past, the Hammers lost their top echelon status due to the persistent calls for their international players in the transfer market. They were enticed with more cash to leave Upton Park.

Pardew, however, has high hopes that his players would be motivated to stay put.

The West Ham boss has spent most of his preparation week for the final running his players through a motivational video of the best moments of what is turning into a great campaign for the Londoners.

The Liverpool-West Ham showdown - the north west vs the south east - is the fourth final since the turn of the millennium comprising sides from Lancashire and London:

2005 - Arsenal-Manchester United (0-0, Gunners won penalty shoot-out); 2004 Manchester United-Millwall (2-0); 2001 Liverpool-Arsenal (2-1).

In the league this season, Liverpool did the double on West Ham:

October 29: Anfield 2-0 (Alonso, Zenden); April 26: Upton Park 2-1 (Cisse 2 - Reo-Coker).

The three past encounters in the FA Cup went Liverpool's way:

1975-76 (third round): West Ham-Liverpool 0-2; 1962-63 (quarter-final): Liverpool-West Ham 1-0; 1913-14 (third round): West Ham-Liverpool 1-1 (replay - Liverpool won 5-1).

Luis Garcia has teamed up with team-mates Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard in the FA's Team of the FA Cup after they won the 'Player of the Round' award.

For the first time three players from the same club feature in the FA selection.

Garcia was voted in the semi-final round and the Spaniard became the 10th footballer, fourth from the Premiership and third Liverpool player to join the FA Team.

Yet, Garcia and West Ham's Hayden Mullins will miss the Cardiff showpiece as both are suspended.

Appeals by the two clubs for wrongful dismissal were rejected by the FA. The duo received red cards after an incident nine minutes from time during Liverpool's 2-1 triumph at Upton Park on April 26.

The instant sending-off saw them punished with a three-match suspension that will be completed at the end of today's final.

Gerrard after second FA Cup title

PFA Player of the Year, Steven Gerrard will be keen to add another FA Cup winners medal to the one of 2001.

That was the last time that Liverpool reached the final. From the ones who played that afternoon in Cardiff, the remaining players still in the squad are Hyypia, Carragher, Hamann, Gerrard and Fowler. The latter, however, is cup-tied since he played for Manchester City earlier this season and netted a hat-trick in a previous round against Scunthorpe.

Hammers' evergreen forward Teddy Sheringham is also hoping to earn another winners' medal, but with a different club.

The Londoners, saddened by the recent deaths of former managers Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, believe that Pardew will join a famous pedigree of fine managers to rule at Upton Park.

The three previous occasions when West Ham lifted the FA Cup they were in the hands of Greenwood and Lyall. Greenwood was manager in the team's 3-2 win over Preston in 1964, while Lyall was responsible for the two honours that arrived within five years, beating Fulham 2-0 (1975) and Arsenal 1-0 (1980).

Liverpool have lifted the FA Cup on six occasions: 1965 vs Leeds United 2-1; 1974 vs Newcastle 3-0; 1986 vs Everton 3-1; 1989 vs Everton 3-2; 1992 vs Sunderland 2-0; and 2001 vs Arsenal 2-1.

There are few managers who pay as much attention to team tactics as Benitez and Pardew and, knowing the romance the cup final engenders, a close affair and an entertaining match looks on the cards.

Today's fixtures

FA Cup Final
Liverpool-West Ham 4 p.m.
(Live Melita Sports 1; Ch. 47)

Scottish Cup Final
Hearts-Gretna 4 p.m.

League Two
Play-Offs SFs - first legs
Lincoln-Grimsby
Wycombe-Cheltenham

League One - tomorrow
Play-Off SF - second leg
Brentford-Swansea

Chase to Cardiff...

Liverpool
Third round: Away vs Luton 5-3 (Gerrard, Pongolle 2, Alonso 2).
Fourth round: Away vs Portsmouth 2-1 (Gerrard pen, Riise).
Fifth round: Home vs Manchester United 1-0 (Crouch).
Quarter-final: Away vs Birmingham 7-0 (Hyypia, Crouch 2, Morientes, Riise, Tebily og, Cisse).
Semi-final: Old Trafford vs Chelsea 2-1 (Riise, Garcia).

Weat Ham United
Third round: Away vs Norwich 2-1 (Mullins, Zamora).
Fourth round: Home vs Blackburn 4-2 (Sheringham pen, Etherington, Khizanishvili og, Zamora).
Fifth round: Away vs Bolton 0-0.
Replay: Home vs Bolton 2-1 - after extra time (Jaaskelainen og, Harewood).
Quarter-final: Away vs Manchester City 2-1 (Ashton 2).
Semi-final: Villa Park vs Middlesbrough 1-0 (Harewood).

Top FA Cup marksmen This Season
7 - Neil Danns (Colchester).
6 - Richard Barker (Mansfield).
5 - Paul Hayes (Barnsley), Steve Basham (Oxford), Scott McGleish (Northampton).
4 - Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Middlesbrough), Junior Agogo (Bristol Rovers).

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