Rooney’s late goal seals an Old Trafford classic

Manchester United 3 Manchester City 1. It was never going to be a damp squib of a second leg between two such fierce rivals and so it proved as the city of Manchester conjured up a classic at Old Trafford. But this morning half of Manchester will be feeling even bluer than usual after United scored a dramatic injury-time winner to send them through to next month's Carling Cup Final against Aston Villa.

City's 2-1 victory in the first-leg at Eastlands meant they were tantalisingly close to their first appearance in a Wembley final since 1981, when they lost to Tottenham in the FA Cup. One or two of the more bullish City fans had even begun to believe their team were destined to win their first major silverware since lifting the League Cup in 1976.
 
Certainly the atmosphere in Old Trafford prior to kick-off was electric – and orderly – with both sets of supporters trading insults with the same gusto that Gary Neville and Carlos Tevez had done on the Eastlands pitch the previous week.
 
United were the more lively of the two sides in the opening exchanges but once City had settled it was they who created the clearest opportunity of the first-half. Craig Bellamy beat Rafael Da Silva down the left flank on the half-hour mark and his cross was met by Tevez, whose diving header was pushed away by Edwin van der Sar.
 
In the second-half the United midfield of Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher began to dominate and it was Scholes who broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute. Rooney and Giggs initiated the move, Carrick carried it on, and from his cutback, Scholes sent a low drive from the edge of the City box past Shay Given in the visitors' goal.

With 19 minutes remaining Carrick's strike extended the hosts' lead to 2-0 and the United faithful began to look forward to meeting Villa in the final. But just five minutes later Tevez made it 2-1 - and 3-3 on aggregate - when he nipped in front of Ferdinand to flick Bellamy’s cross beyond the reach of Van der Sar.

With extra-time looming, the red-hot Rooney, fresh from his four-goal haul against Hull last Saturday, headed Ryan Giggs's cross from the left past Given for the goal that took United to their seventh league cup final under Alex Ferguson.

Ferguson saluted Rooney afterwards, describing his performance as "absolutely fantastic" and hailing his striker, who has now scored 21 goals in all competitions this season as "truly world class". And the United manager was in no doubt as to the key to his side’s success: "We kept our patience, that was important," said Ferguson. "Once we got into the last third of the field we always looked a threat."

City manager Roberto Mancini did his best to sound upbeat on a night when the Blues' hearts were broken once again, saying: "I am sorry for my players and supporters because we have not made the final but this is football and sometimes when you make mistakes, you lose. I can only compliment my players. We have another trophy to aim for and maybe we can win the FA Cup." ·