Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph scored as Aston Villa came from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 on Sunday and book their place in the FA Cup final.
Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring in the semi-final clash, but the Belgian striker hit back just six minutes later, before Delph completed the turnaround in the second-half.
The underdogs stunned Liverpool with a confident, assured performance defined by defensive solidity and real gusto in attack.
Fabian Delph was superb in midfield, Christian Benteke excellent up top, bringing all the power that Liverpool lacked, and questions must be asked of Brendan Rodgers and a side who will end the season without silverware – and likely without even a place in the Champions League either. Villa will now face Arsenal in the showpiece on May 30, with Steven Gerrard’s hopes of a fairytale end to his Liverpool career left in tatters.
All the talk had been of whether Gerrard could finish his Liverpool career by lifting the FA Cup next month on his birthday in his final game before joining LA Galaxy, but there will no fairytale end for the long-serving captain, with Villa instead reaching their first FA Cup final for 15 years.
Gerrard and Martin Skrtel both slotted back into the Liverpool team following their respective bans, but the talismanic captain had little effect during the early exchanges as Villa began brightly.
Villa youngster Jack Grealish looked particularly threatening, but it was Charles N'Zogbia who had the first attempt at goal with a 25-yard drive which was tipped over the crossbar by Simon Mignolet in the 12th minute.
Despite their superiority, Villa struggled to craft goal-scoring opportunities and Liverpool capitalised on hesitant defending to take a 30th-minute lead.
Jores Okore - on for Nathan Baker after he took a blow to the head - and Delph both failed to clear the ball, and Coutinho subsequently burst into the penalty area and coolly slotted past Shay Given after racing on to Raheem Sterling's through ball.
Their joy was short-lived, however, as Villa deservedly levelled only six minutes later.
A fine move down the left resulted in Grealish releasing Delph in the area and his cut-back was dispatched beyond Mignolet by the lurking Benteke, his fifth goal in seven games against the Merseyside club.
Rodgers introduced Balotelli for the anonymous Lazar Markovic at half-time, but that switch changed little with regards to Villa's control and Sherwood's side soon had a well-earned lead.
The impressive Grealish produced a clever reverse pass into the area for Delph and the England international jinked past Dejan Lovren, before sliding past Mignolet.
Falling behind forced Liverpool's hand and they began to open up, finding themselves exposed on the break on a couple of occasions.
However, Villa were unable to punish them again and Liverpool piled the pressure on towards the end, Gerrard – who was far from his best – having a header cleared off the line by Kieran Richardson with four minutes to go.
There was further frustration for Liverpool as Balotelli incorrectly had an 88th-minute strike disallowed for offside and that proved to be a costly decision, as Villa held on to book another trip to Wembley.
