United goes to Wembley

 

Match Report by ILIAS

 

In a thrilling second half and thanks to a goal by Wayne Rooney in stoppage time, Manchester United won rivals Manchester City 3-1 at Old Trafford and went through to face Aston Villa in the Carling Cup final (Wembley, 28 February).

 

1st half-analysis

ManUtd tried to push City from the very start of the game and they did as the citizens couldn’t get out of their half easily (Tevez was about 30yards away from the nearest teammate). The first time that Given got in alert was at 8’ when Rooney’s shot from the edge of the box was saved. First threat for Van Der Sar arose at 22’ when Wright-Philips dribbled Evra and made the cross from the right, but Bellamy’s header wasn’t strong enough.

City nearly scored at 29’ when Bellamy made a great run from the left and crossed the ball into the heart of United’s defence. Tevez met the ball nicely with a diving header but Van Der Sar said no. Giggs replied to that chance with a shot from the edge of City’s box, but Given grabbed the ball nicely. Believe it or not, this was what pretty much happened in the 1st half.

2nd half-analysis

The 2nd half started with a venomous shot by Richards but Van Der Sar tipped it over at his left-hand corner. At 50’ some smartasses thought it would be a good idea to throw a coin and hit Bellamy while he was ready to take a corner. Surely Manchester shouldn’t get away with it.

At 52’ aggregate score got level. Rooney found Giggs nicely into the area. The Welshman delayed there but the ball somehow landed into the feet of Paul Scholes, who blasted it at Given’s nets. I haven’t heard Old Trafford scream like this for some time. By the way, that was Scholes’ first league cup goal in seven years!!!

 

City had a good chance at 65’ with some nice passing from a set piece, but Richard’s shot from inside the box got deflected. But at 70’ United came one step closer to Wembley as Fletcher set it up nicely to Carrick. Given fell to the wrong way and saw the ball landing to his nets. 2-0… City needed to score but how?

 

Rooney could and should have sealed it 2 minutes later but he didn’t direct the ball from Evra’s nice cross from the left. How did he miss that? City needed an inspiration and came from a very clever flick by (who else) Carlos Tevez at 76’. Bellamy crossed the ball in and Tevez kicked the ball very nicely, in a way that no defender, nor Van Der Sar could do anything. 2-1 and the match was heading to extra time again.

Carrick nearly became the saviour of United at 81’ but his shot almost from the penalty spot and being unmarked, went wide. Fletcher saw his header from close range getting stopped by Given at stoppage time but the corner resulted from that chance proved to be vital. Giggs saw the ball landing to his feet again after his corner, he curled it and Wayne Rooney finds it, just to head it past Given. ManUtd are at Wembley.

 

Man of the Match: Darren Fletcher

 

Attendance: 74,576

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva (74’ Brown), Ferdinand, Jonathan Evans, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes, Carrick, Nani (90’ Valencia), Rooney, Giggs.
Man City: Given, Richards, Kompany, Boyata, Garrido (64’ Ireland), De Jong, Barry, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips (72’ Adebayor), Tevez, Bellamy.