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Cousin Anthony saved Steven Gerrard the blushes

Liverpool won the English League Cup for the eighth time on Sunday, but were given a huge fright by Championship side Cardiff City, who snatched a goal deep into extra-time to salvage a 2-2 draw before going down 3-2 in the penalty shoot-out.

Liverpool were fortunate that the Cardiff players faltered from the 'spot'.

- League Cup: Liverpool down Cardiff to lift title

Captain Steven Gerrard also missed a penalty for Liverpool, but, thankfully, it didn't prove costly. Suffice to say, his cousin, Anthony, saved him the blushes by missing the decisive penalty.

Many matches in big tournaments have seen the script being change because of a miss from a penalty in the shoot-out.

Click Next to browse through few recent instances where tournament finals were decided when a kick went wrong.

Gervinho never wanted to take the kick

Gervinho, Ivory Coast (Final, African Nations Cup 2012)

Ivory Coast are real giants when it comes to African football. With players of the reputation of captain Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and Gervinho (all EPL stars) in their ranks, the team was expected to lift the African Nations Cup this year. However, another opportunity to clinch the continental cup eluded them again.

Playing Zambia in the final, Ivory Coast looked a pale shadow of themselves and the match was forced go into penalties. But the goalless match might not have had to go to the shoot-out had Drogba not ballooned a 70th-minute penalty well wide to deny his team victory inside 90 minutes, repeating his miss in the 2006 final, which the Ivorians lost to Egypt.

A dramatic penalty shoot-out followed and the Zambians came out trumps 8-7 after the scores remained goalless at the end of regulation time.

The first 14 kicks were successfully converted before a reluctant Kolo Toure had his shot saved at 7-7. But Rainford Kalaba also missed for Zambia.

Gervinho, who did not want to take a kick, then missed, before Stoppila Sunzu won the cup for Zambia, who had suffered two previous defeats in the 1974 and 1994 finals.

Sunzu converted after three successive efforts were missed. The nervy shoot-out totalled 18 kicks!

Terry's blunder ensured Ronaldo's miss was forgotten

John Terry, Chelsea (Final, UEFA Champions League 2008)

It was a match that went right down to the wire. For the first time in the history of the Champions League two English clubs were vying for the biggest prize in European club football.

Manchester United and Chelsea kicked-off on a rainy night in Moscow. The match was expected to be a thriller and it lived up to its billing. There were chances from both ends, but it was Cristiano Ronaldo who fired the opener in the first half.

Chelsea kept up the pace and found the equaliser through a Frank Lampard strike.

Now, with the scores level at regulation time, the match went into extra-time. Still no result; the shoot-out to find the winner followed.

Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick struck for United while Chelsea's Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti found the back of the net. But United's first big miss came -- from Ronaldo, his strike saved by Petr Cech.

Lampard then scored to make it 3-2. Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole and Nani converted as the scoreline read 4-4. All Chelsea captain John Terry had to do was put the ball behind United 'keeper Edwin Van der Sar to clinch the title. But it was the moment for the mother of all anti-climaxes.

Terry lost his footing and slipped as he took the shot. Even though Van der Sar was sent the wrong way, Terry's mis-hit kissed the outside of the right post and went wide.

The match went into sudden death, where Van der Sar stopped a Nicolas Anelka penalty to hand United the crown.

Trezeguet's miss cost France the World Cup

David Trezeguet, France (Final, 2006 World Cup)

The 2006 World Cup final was to be Frenchman Zinedine Zidane's last match for Les Blues. But in the final analysis it ended in agony for the big man. 

The final between Italy and France was decided on penalties after Zidane and Italy's Marco Materazzi scored in extra-time. But with Zidane getting a red card in the 110th minute for head-butting Materazzi in the chest, the French were under pressure.

David Trezeguet eventually stole the spotlight from Zidane. He went up to take a shot in the second round of penalties. Unfortunately, he hit the crossbar and became the only player in the match to miss a penalty.

Italy went on to win 5-3 and clinch their fourth World Cup, the result ensuring them a revenge over France -who had denied them the Euro 2000 title.

Shevchenko's blunder proved costly for Milan

Andriy Shevchenko, AC Milan (Final, 2005 UEFA Champions League)

Andriy Shevchenko, AC Milan's poster boy and Champions League 2005 hero, turned out to be the villain in the final against Liverpool.

In a historic turnaround, Liverpool fought back to tie the match (3-3) in the second half after Milan grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first.

In the final round of penalties, Shevchenko had to score to keep Milan in the shoot-out, but his shot went straight, and stopped by Jerzy Dudek.

Liverpool won their fifth European title, their first since 1984 and it went a long way in erasing the horrors of the Heysel disaster.

Baggio helped the Brazilian cause

Roberto Baggio, Italy (Final, 1994 World Cup)

This pony-tailed front man was the superstar of the Italian brigade at the 1994 football World Cup in the United States. The weight of expectation on him was evident, having been unable to make a mark until the last 16 stage. He finally came into his own in the match against Nigeria, scoring the last-minute equaliser.

From there on it was all Baggio at that World Cup. He first helped Italy pack Spain off in the quarters with another late winner and then struck a brace in the semis to burst Bulgaria's bubble. Baggio picked an injury (a tired muscle, as the start mentioned in his memoir -- Una Porta Nel Cielo - A Goal In The Sky) in the process, but that did not hamper his enthusiasm to play Brazil in the World Cup final.

With the injury at the back of his mind Baggio did not play too well in the final. After 120 minutes were played and no goal to decide the winner, the game went into the shoot-out -- the first ever World Cup final to be decided on penalties.

Italy did not have a good time in front of the net, as Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro both failed with their kicks. After four rounds, Brazil led 3-2. Now it was up to Baggio to tie the shoot-out.

The Italian talisman got it wrong completely, sending the ball three metres over the crossbar to hand Brazil their fourth World Cup title.