Wayne Rooney didn’t start the Carling Cup final, but once he got on the pitch, you knew he was likely to finish it, and he did it in style, continuing his torrid scoring pace by heading home the winner in the 74th minute as Manchester United grabbed the season’s first hardware with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium.
It was United’s second straight Carling Cup title and third in six years, but this was the first time in seven tries that they have won at the new Wembley without the benefit of penalties.
Although United dominated for the majority of the contest, it was not without controversy and early controversy at that. In just the 4th minute, with United playing a high line, speedy Gabby Agbonlahor got behind the defense. Nemanja Vidic caught him, but pulled him down inside the box.
Referee Phil Dowd gave Villa the penalty, which James Milner coolly buried to give his team an early 1-0 lead, but Vidic – amazingly – was not even booked, although a case could certainly be made for his denying a goal scoring opportunity.
Just five minutes later, United were level when Richard Dunne made a mistake at midfield and was stripped by Dimitar Berbatov. Dunne actually got back to make a tackle at the edge of the box, but it went right into the path of surprise starter Michael Owen, who beat Brad Friedel to make it 1-1.
Villa had a few half-chances soon after and were always dangerous on the break, but slowly United began to take over possession and looked more and more likely to score.
Owen was forced to leave in the 42nd minute due to injury, and Sir Alex Ferguson decided Rooney had enough rest and entered him into the game.
Villa were extremely lucky in first-half stoppage time when Steven Warnock slipped allowing Antonio Valencia to walk in. His cross fell to Ji-Sung Park, who hit the post from 10 yards out as Friedel was stranded. The rebound bounced off a few bodies near the goal line, but somehow stayed out.
Most of the chances in the second half went to United. Michael Carrick was set up by Berbatov and robbed by Friedel from 15 yards in the 49th minute.
Finally, in the 74th minute, they broke through and again it was Valencia prominently involved. He got to the endline and played it back across for Rooney, who still had a lot to do from 10 yards out, but his perfectly placed header (his third headed goal in two games) looped over Friedel for the game winner.
Four minutes later, Rooney nearly finished the game off, but he ripped a shot off the near post with Friedel again helpless to do anything about it.
Villa got a couple of chances in the dying minutes by pushing numbers forward. In the 82nd minute, a Stewart Downing cross was deflected and almost beat Tomasz Kuszczak, but hit the top of the crossbar and went on for a corner.
Finally, in the 89th minute, Downing put in a teasing cross that Dunne just couldn’t quite get on the end of at the far post.
In the end, despite Villa battling until the final whistle, the better team came out on top, as United became the first team to repeat as League Cup champions since Nottingham Forest in 1990 and denied Aston Villa their first hardware since 1996.
The only question for United, as it seemingly always is, is how many more trophies will 2010 bring them?
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