Rooney swoops to send United into Wembley final

Wayne Rooney's 91st-minute header secured a 3-1 victory for Manchester United over rivals City at Old Trafford last night and carried the holders through to a League Cup final at Wembley with Aston Villa.

The England forward struck with a close range header from a Ryan Giggs cross following a well-worked short corner and clinched a 4-3 aggregate semi-final victory, denying City what would have been a place in their first major final for 29 years.

On an evening of high drama at Old Trafford, former United forward Carlos Tevez was again prominent as his 75th minute goal tied the aggregate scores at 3-3.

After a goalless first half, Rooney sent Giggs racing clear in the 51st minute and, after City appeared to have halted the attack, Michael Carrick's pass found veteran midfielder Paul Scholes who finished clinically from a dozen yards.

In the 70th minute, the tie looked decided after Darren Fletcher laid a Nani pass into the path of Carrick who scored with a precision 'pass' into the corner of the City goal.

But Tevez struck five minutes later, flicking the ball powerfully into the home goal after United failed to deal with Craig Bellamy's cross.

The build-up to the second leg had been intense; the feud between Tevez and Gary Neville, the FA warning both clubs about their behaviour.

Tevez was being jeered by home support every time he touched the ball and his former fans were far from impressed when he went down heavily after Rio Ferdinand appeared to accidentally catch the Argentine under the chin with his trailing arm.

The second half opened in even more intense fashion than the first.

Tevez was booked for a nasty hack at Rafael and the mood darkened further when Bellamy appeared to be hit by a coin thrown by United fans as he took a City corner.

A minute later, Scholes levelled the aggregate score and, shortly after, had a hand in another promising attack which ended with a goalmouth scramble and Fletcher seeing his shot deflected to safety.

Boyata had to defend heroically, again, to keep out a Nani cross while Carrick did well in flicking over a threatening Richards header but, after Carrick had doubled United's lead, a miss by Rooney looked in danger of becoming the game's turning point.

Three minutes later, Tevez equalised the aggregate score and United were back at square one.

A late Carrick shot and a weak header from substitute Emmaneul Adebayor both failed to threaten the keepers and the semi-final appeared to be heading for extra-time... until the late drama.