Aston Villa came from a goal behind to defeat Liverpool 2-1 in the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley, as goals from Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph cancelled out Philippe Coutinho's opener to send Villa to the final.
After an opening half hour in which Villa looked the better side, Coutinho gave Liverpool the lead thanks to a deflected finish off Jores Okore; a lead that lasted just five minutes before a placed Benteke shot beat Mignolet. Villa completed the turnaround with 54 minutes on the clock, when a weak-footed finish from Delph found its way past Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal. Liverpool eventually regained some control of the game and began creating chances, but it was too little too late as Villa held on to reach the final.
Liverpool were slight favourites and started the game with two shots off target through first Joe Allen, and then Jordan Henderson. Villa manager Tim Sherwood had said that his side might haave to adopt a different style of play in the absence of speedy striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, and this was proved early on as long balls were rained in upon Liverpool's defence. The tactic brought the first effort on target of the match, as Charles N'Zogbia forced Simon Mignolet into a save with a strong effort from the edge of the area, which the Belgian pushed over his bar.
Villa were the allocated home side for the day, and were playing like it as they pressed on and looked much the better team for most of the opening period. An excellent chance to go 1-0 ahead came and went, as Dejan Lovren brilliantly cut out N'Zogbia's pass to stop him Christian Benteke through in a two on one situation.
Nathan Baker was an unfortunate casualty of the high tempo game, pulling up after 25 minutes as Jores Okore replaced him in central defence. This was about the same time Brendan Rodgers made a change of his own, tactically speaking. The Ulsterman responded to early Villa dominance by switching to a four man defence, with Emre Can shifting across to right back.
The injury to Baker certainly disrupted Villa, as Liverpool grew into the game, resulting in them going ahead on the half hour mark through Philippe Coutinho. Some superb interplay between Alberto Moreno and Henderson had seemingly created a chance down the left hand side for Liverpool, before Villa managed to stab the ball clear. The clearance fell straight back into the path of the Reds' on-rushing midfielders, allowing Raheem Sterling to calmly roll in Coutinho. The Brazilian took the ball into his feet with ease, dancing through men before earning a touch of luck as his sidefooted finish was deflected off substitute Okore and past an estranged Shay Given.
However, Liverpool's lead didn't last long as Villa equalised just five minutes later thanks to Christian Benteke's seventh goal in nine games. From what looked like a simple throw in on the left hand side, Fabian Delph exchanged passes with the impressive Jack Grealish, before shaking off two tackles and squaring the ball to Benteke the edge of the box, allowing the Belgian to slot past Mignolet, levelling the scores. Villa were level, and it was their first goal in the FA Cup against Liverpool since 1897.
Brendan Rodgers realised there was need for more change at half time, bringing on the controversial Mario Balotelli in place of Lazar Markovic. The substitution saw Coutinho adopt a more right wing position, with Raheem Sterling on the left in a 4-3-3.
The first chance of the second 45 came for Villa, with Benteke again as the main threat. Right back, Leonardo Bacuna, surged down the channel, cutting back for Benteke whose shot was deflected by Lovren into the arms of Mignolet.
It didn't matter though, as Villa completed the turnaround by taking the lead soon after thanks to Delph's right-footed finish. More poor defending from Liverpool allowed rumoured transfer target Delph to receive a good pass from Grealish, then skip past Lovren in the area before shooting through the legs of a helpless Mignolet.
Liverpool fans would have hoped that going behind would have brought their side to life, however it did the opposite as Villa continued to play on the front foot, Kieran Richardson blazing over a good chance after Lovren's tackle on Grealish fell nicely for the left back.
Liverpool picked up their game somewhat and manged to create some opportunities through set pieces, mainly through good play from Balotelli, however they almost conceded a third from their own corner. As Gerrard's ball in was headed out, a Joe Allen shot was blocked allowing Villa to counter, resulting in Moreno making a perfectly timed tackle to prevent Beneteke shooting at the goal after another good pass from Delph.
With just 15 minutes left on the clock, both managers made their second substitution as Tim Sherwood swapped N'Zogbia for the quick footed Scott Sinclair, whilst Rodgers brought on Glen Johnson for Joe Allen, seeing Emre Can move into midfield.
The narrative of Steven Gerrard appearing in the FA Cup final on his birthday, for his last Liverpool appearance, was fading quickly as the time remaining slipped away, however the stage did seem set for a moment of magic as Coutinho was brought down by Delph on the edge of the area, giving the captain a chance to score from a free-kick. Unfortunately for Gerrard, his shot was much like his game, poor, as it bent straight into the arms of Given. He was given another chance with three minutes left, as Richardson headed Gerrard's effort from Coutinho's corner off the line.
Balotelli then had the ball in the net, chasing a long ball from Sterling in the last minute of normal time and knocking it past Given, as the linesman raised his flag for offside. The decision will prove to be the talking point over future days, as replays showed that the Italian was well onside.
Liverpool continued to throw the kitchen sink at Villa, with Sterling, Balotelli and Lovren all missing chances in injury time, but Villa held on to set up an FA Cup Final against Arsenal in six weeks time.