Liverpool's Carling Cup win over Man City was for fans - Kenny Dalglish

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish dedicated his team's Carling Cup semi-final victory over Manchester City to the club's fans after a difficult period.

The Reds reached their first Wembley final in 16 years after drawing 2-2 with City to earn a 3-2 aggregate win.

It comes after a testing time, with new American owners taking over in 2010 as well as the Luis Suarez affair.

"It's not been the best times and it's a fantastic reward for the supporters that have stood by us," said Dalglish.

"And it's a fantastic reward for the new owners, it's their first final. For everybody connected with the club, it's a great reward.

"If the players have been the ones who have pushed us over the line by the performance and the result tonight, then every single one of the other people we have mentioned have helped us."

Liverpool have not won a trophy since their 2006 FA Cup final victory over West Ham in Cardiff and have not qualified for the Champions League for the past two seasons.

They are currently six points off the Premier League's top four, having lost 3-1 to Bolton on Saturday.

Following a 1-0 first leg win over City at Etihad Stadium, they fell behind at Anfield when Nigel de Jong struck from 25 yards.

But they went ahead via a controversial penalty when Micah Richards blocked Daniel Agger's shot with his arm after the ball ricocheted off his foot.

Steven Gerrard tucked that away and, although Edin Dzeko levelled the tie again from close range, Craig Bellamy scored against his former team with 16 minutes left to book their meeting with another of his old clubs, Cardiff, on 26 February.

Afterwards City boss Roberto Mancini claimed it was "impossible" to award Liverpool the spot-kick, but Dalglish said his side deserved to be in their first League Cup final since 2005.

"I think it was a great spectacle for everybody and I think overall we deserved to win," the Scot told BBC Sport.

"[Manchester City goalkeeper] Joe Hart put in a fantastic performance which wasn't pleasing for us but must have been very pleasing for them.

"The attitude and commitment we showed when going behind both times and coming back to get on level terms was fantastic," added Dalglish, part of the Liverpool team which won the first four of their record seven League Cup victories in successive years between 1981 and 1984.

Liverpool skipper Gerrard, twice a League Cup winner himself (in 2001 and 2003), believed it was his team's commitment to attack which won them the tie and said that it had been "too long" since Liverpool's last trip to Wembley.

"It was a tough night," he commented. "Manchester City are a fantastic team with very dangerous players, but I thought we were superb tonight and stuck together. The best form of defence was attack, that's what we've done and we got our rewards."

Having scored a memorable late equaliser in Liverpool's last major final in 2006 when they beat West Ham on penalties after a 3-3 draw at the Millennium Stadium, Gerrard said it would be a dream to finally lead his team out at England's national stadium.

"We're delighted to go to Wembley," he added. "It's been too long for a major cup final for this club so I'm really happy for our supporters.

"We had a lot of cup finals at Cardiff, but it's extra special going to Wembley.

"I've been dreaming of doing it for Liverpool and now that it's here I'm really looking forward to it, but there are a lot of big games before that."

Liverpool face the first of those on Saturday when they host Manchester United in the fourth round of the FA Cup.