Carling Cup final review

Manchester United retained the Carling Cup cup after a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley. Aston Villa enjoyed a dream start as Gabriel Agbonlahor was fouled inside the penalty area by United defender Nemanja Vidic. The referee pointed to the spot but decided erroneously not to even book the big defender, when he should have been dismissed.

England midfielder James Milner stepped up from the spot and calmly put the ball beyond Tomasz Kuszczak. United were back on level terms after twelves minute. Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov broke away from Villa defender Richard Dunne, the Irish defender recovered and tackled the striker, only to see the ball run to ex-England striker Michael Owen who swept the ball into the corner of the net.

The unlucky Owen pulled up with an injury later in the first half and England striker Wayne Rooney stepped off the bench to replace the striker, before Park Ji-Sung struck the post with a good effort. The aforementioned Rooney put United back into the lead with a superb header from a superb Antonio Valencia cross in the 74th minute.

A few minutes later Rooney was unlucky not to get a second headed goal as the striker’s effort struck the post. Emile Heskey went close to equalising for Villa late-on as his header deflected onto the bar, as Villa pushed for an equaliser however they couldn’t find a way past the United defence and the Red Devils retained the trophy for the first time.