ManU vs Man City: What a Game!

Revenge was the only emotion in the hearts of Manchester United fans at the Old Trafford and that is exactly what they got as the red devils cruised to a comfortable win. Having beaten their more formidable rivals 2-1 in the first leg, Manchester City was looking to seal the deal for a showdown in the finals. City's star player Carlos Tevez, still very much a villain for United's fans after moving from Utd to City, looked threatening to script a dream win with a sensational 76th minute backheel flick. But, United's man of the moment, Wayne Rooney, had other plans. Rooney sent Old Trafford wild in celebrations when he successfully headed a Ryan Giggs's cross past Manchester City goalie Shay Given and set up a final encounter with Aston Villa on 28 February.

The game started with heightened security after fan troubles in the first leg match, and the game was marred by an incident when Craig Bellamy was felled after he seemed to have been hit on the head by a coin and a bottle thrown at him. As the match started, ManU set the early tempo, but once City gained a measure of the situation, they created much better scoring opportunities in a fiercely contested first half which ended goalless.

When the heat resumed after the break, ManU was evidently under pressure to make in-roads at the start of the second half, but it was Man City who almost scored when Richards' shot brought an athletic save from Van der Sar. In the 53rd minute, United scored and it came from veteran Paul Scholes, who had proved to be most influential in the midfield chaos. It was 2-2 on the aggregate board and United was leading 1-0 in the game. Old Traffod was in the 7th heaven when Carrick added a second in the 71st minute.

A stunning 76th minute equalizer from City virtually silenced the fans when Tevez's acrobatic backheel shot flew low out of Van der Sar's reach to find the net. And just as everyone at Old Trafford were bracing themselves an extra-time showdown, ManU mounted a typical late assault and Rooney's dramatic stoppage-time header booked their Wembley ticket and wrecked Man City's hopes of reaching a first Carling Cup final in 29 years.

Manchester United's boss Sir Alex Ferguson was all praise for his front-line striker and hailed Rooney as "truly world-class"."His control, his leading of the line, his penetration was absolutely fantastic," enthused Ferguson. "It was a wonderful performance, truly world-class." he added.