By STUART CONDIE
AP Sports Writer
Associated Press Sports
updated 9:20 a.m. ET Feb. 23, 2012
LONDON (AP) -A League Cup final and the club's first appearance at the rebuilt Wembley aren't going to distract Liverpool from its real focus this season.
Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy said that even though Sunday's final will throw him up against his hometown club, Cardiff, it is less important than securing fourth place in the Premier League and a spot in next season's Champions League.
"That is our main objective," Bellamy said. "That is what we set out for this season. Cup competitions are a big bonus for us but we are looking at the Champions League.
"A win on Sunday might push us forward but if it didn't we still have a lot to play for - and so do Cardiff."
Second-tier Cardiff could become the first Welsh side to win the League Cup and the first to win either of England's major cup competitions since it beat Arsenal in the 1927 FA Cup final.
But Bellamy suggested that the Bluebirds are also looking at winning Sunday's final at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium as a bonus, since Cardiff is chasing promotion from the League Championship to the Premier League.
"The season isn't over for either of us, whichever one loses," Bellamy said. "If we lose on Sunday, we still have so much to play for this season and it is the same for Cardiff.
"Would we choose Champions League over the Carling (League) Cup? I think we would. Would Cardiff choose getting to the Premier League over the Carling Cup? I think they would as well."
The six years since Liverpool's 2006 FA Cup final win over West Ham equals the club's longest wait for a trophy since 1973. On only one other occasion since then have Liverpool fans had to wait so long to celebrate silverware.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, who was part of the team that won four of the club's record seven League Cup titles, has to choose whether to start Bellamy up front, out wide or even omit him in favor of partnering Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez up front.
"I came here to win medals," Carroll said. "We've got a great team and a great squad, so he could put anyone in and anyone will do a job. I've just got to work hard this week and try to get myself in the starting 11."
Unusually, England's national anthem will not be played before kickoff. Both the English and Welsh anthems have been played at previous finals between teams from those nations but this was abandoned by the Football League in 2003 after fans had jeered them.
"It is the long-standing policy of the Football League not to play national anthems when English and Welsh clubs meet in finals," the Football League said. "The League regards these matches as domestic rather than international occasions and introduced this policy after fans failed to respect both anthems at previous finals."
Also this weekend, Premier League leader Manchester City hosts Blackburn on Saturday, while second-place Manchester United is at Norwich. Tottenham is at north London rival Arsenal on Sunday with a chance to tighten its grip on third place and a Champions League qualifying berth.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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