afootballreport:

By Dominic Vieira

50^th League Cup Final, Aston Villa 1 – 2 Manchester United,

Wembley Stadium, London - 88,596 spectators

Wayne Rooney’s deadly head makes up for Vidic’s hot head and retain Manchester United the status as champions of the Carling Cup.

The atmosphere was magnificent from both fans, from each corner of Wembley the roar could be heard from top to bottom. Manchester United fans protest against the Glazer ownership of the club was clearly visible with the thousands of green and yellow scarves, but the protest did not destroy the match. In a close encounter between two fast, physical and efficient sides, one of the teams had to end finish victorious and United were worthy winners, but Aston Villa put up a strong challenge to the defending champions.

As expected, both teams approached the 50^th final of the League Cup fielding a traditional 4-4-2 formation, Aston Villa using two wide offensive wingers. Manchester United, captained by Patrice Evra had no real surprises in the starting eleven; Ferguson did hint that Wayne Rooney would be rested. However, Tomasz Kuszczak was given the responsibility to defend the nets instead of Ben Foster and Michael Carrick played instead of Darron Gibson. As I predicted and was expected, Aston Villa started with their strongest eleven.

(detailed match summary, with highlights, is embedded after the jump)

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