Wayne Rooney's 91st-minute header secured a 3-1 victory for Manchester United over rivals City at Old Trafford and carried the holders through to a League Cup final meeting with Aston Villa.
Wayne Rooney's 91st-minute header secured a 3-1 victory for Manchester United over rivals City at Old Trafford and carried the holders through to a League Cup final meeting with Aston Villa.
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Man United's Wayne Rooney heads to score the winner against man City in the League Cup semi-final in Manchester last night. United won 3-1 (4-3 agg) pic/afp |
The England forward struck with a close range header from a Ryan Giggs cross following a well-worked short corner and clinched a 4-3 aggregate semi-final victory, denying City what would have been a place in their first major final for 29 years.
On an evening of high drama at Old Trafford, former United forward Carlos Tevez u2014 scorer of both goals in City's 2-1 first leg victory last week u2014 was again prominent as his 75th minute goal tied the aggregate scores at 3-3.
After a goalless first half, Rooney sent Giggs racing clear in the 51st minute and, after City appeared to have halted the attack, Michael Carrick's pass found veteran midfielder Paul Scholes who finished clinically from a dozen yards.
In the 70th minute, the tie looked decided after Darren Fletcher laid a Nani pass into the path of Carrick who scored with a precision 'pass' into the corner of the City goal. But Tevez struck five minutes later, flicking the ball powerfully into the home goal from eight yards after United failed to deal with Craig Bellamy's cross.
Rooney then clinched the dramatic headed winner and a Wembley showdown with Aston Villa, moments after Darren Fletcher's header is turned away by Given.
The build-up to the second leg had been intense; the feud between Tevez and Gary Neville, the FA warning both clubs about their behaviour, City's chief exec Garry Cook appearing in a televised rally in which he gloated to his club's fans that they would become "the biggest and the best in the world."
