Wayne Rooney came off the bench to ensure Manchester United retained the League Cup by beating Aston Villa 2-1 on a painfully bittersweet afternoon for his team-mate Michael Owen.
Manchester United’s English footballer Michael Owen celebrates with the trophy after his team beat Aston Villa 2-1 to win the 2010 Carling Cup Final at Wembley, in London, on Sunday.
With England coach Fabio Capello watching from the stands, Owen had evoked memories of his glory days with a wonderful, instinctive finish to cancel out James Milner’s early penalty for Villa.
But just as he might have been starting to entertain hopes of an international recall, a hamstring injury ended both his afternoon and any lingering hopes he may have had of making Capello’s squad for the World Cup. “He looked sharp today when he was on and took his goal really well. Hopefully he’ll be back soon,” Rooney said of his team-mate.
The striker said he was thrilled to earn a second League Cup winners’ medal. “It’s a great feeling. I’m delighted,” he said.
“I think we probably created the best chances in the game but full credit to Villa, they played well and it was a good final.
“I think we knew there were spaces out wide and if we attacked them out wide then we could create chances.
“My sights are the medals. If the goals come, then great but I’m thinking about winning medals, not scoring,” he added.
Gabriel Agbonlahor had scored the winner when Villa won 1-0 at Old Trafford earlier in the season and it was immediately apparent that his pace, unleashed from the left-side of his team’s attacking trident, would again trouble a United defence missing Rio Ferdinand.
Within four minutes, Ashley Young’s pass had sent him clear of Nemanja Vidic, who resorted first to shirt-pulling and then to a desperate lunge to prevent his opponent from getting a shot away.
Vidic, remarkably, escaped sanction but Milner ensured Villa took the lead by sending Thomas Kuszczak the wrong way from the resulting penalty.
With both sides displaying a refreshing commitment to attack, the tone had been set for an entertaining, open encounter and United were quickly back on level terms courtesy of a vintage piece of finishing from Owen.
The striker had already served notice that he was in the mood to catch Capello’s eye when, having robbed Carlos Cuellar, he went past James Collins only to have his progression towards goal arrested by the Villa centreback’s crude lunge.
There was however nothing anyone could do about his equaliser, which came after Berbatov dispossessed Richard Dunne 30 yards out.
The Villa defender recovered the uncharacteristic lapse with a superb tackle on the edge of the area but succeeded only in diverting the ball from Berbatov’s toes into the path of Owen, who didn’t break his stride as he steered a controlled low shot beyond Brad Friedel’s right hand.
Milner tested Kuszczak with a drive three minutes later, but as the opening period wore on it was United who looked the more likely to add to their score, with much of their drive coming from the energetic forward thrusts of Park Ji-Sung.
The South Korean midfielder sliced one good chance wide after being teed up by Berbatov’s back heel and, having broken from deep inside his own half and combined deftly with Antonio Valencia, saw another effort blocked by Stiliyan Petrov before being denied by the woodwork in first-half stoppage time.
Valencia was again involved, skipping past Villa’s left-back Stephen Warnock with an ease that will have been noted by Capello before delivering a cross that was deflected to Park 12 yards out.
Source: AFP
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