Manchester United vs Blackburn Rovers, 2nd Leg Manchester United win 3-2 on aggregate
Who won: Man United 2-1
Manchester United beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 in 2nd Leg Manchester United win 3-2 on aggregate on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at Old Trafford. Goals for Man United: Ruud van Nistelrooy (8') and Louis Saha (51'). Goals for Blackburn: Steven Reid (32').
Play by play
- 94'
FULL-TIME: Saha's second-half goal sees United through to a Cardiff final against north-west neighbours Wigan.
- 93'
Goalkeeper Friedel comes up for the corner, but United cope easily with the threat.
- 92'
Silvestre makes a crucial tackle as he slides Savage's through-ball, aimed at Neill rampaging down the right, out for a corner.
- 91'
Rooney mounts a counter attack as he runs at the heart of the Blackburn defence, though the Rovers players flood back to snuff out the danger.
- 90'
There will be four minutes of added time for Blackburn to snatch something.
- 89'
Rovers win a corner when a cross in to the middle is flicked behind by Neville. Saha clears the set-piece at the near post.
- 88'
Neill lofts a cross in to the middle, but Van Der Sar collects easily. Without Kuqi, Blackburn really have no aerial threat.
- 87'
Blackburn are trying desperately to mount some meaningful pressure on the United goal, but they just lack the invention to do so.
- 86'
UNITED SUB: Van Nistelrooy off, Vidic on. It's a United debut for the big Serbian centre-back, and he is welcomed by a loud cheer from the Old Trafford faithful.
- 85'
BLACKBURN SUB: Tugay off, Peter on. The young German striker comes on to give Rovers an extra edge up front.
- 84'
TACKLE! Richardson tracks Reid's break down the right-hand side and produces a good sliding tacke to halt the attack and put the ball out of play.
- 83'
Neill has the chance to fire in a shot from 25 yards, but he instead tries to turn inside and find a colleague with a through-ball - Brown intercepts and clears.
- 82'
Blackburn should take heart from the performance of Wigan, last evening; the Latics were seconds from going out of the competition at Highbury before snatching a last-minute away goal to steal the tie from under Arsenal's noses.
- 81'
Neill is getting forward down the right a lot more often than he has down throughout this evening, doing his best to provide an extra man down that side.
- 80'
Silvestre has slotted in to the left-back spot vacated by his fellow Frenchman Evra. PS: Mark Hughes has won the League Cup with Manchester United, Chelsea and Blackburn.
- 79'
UNITED SUB: Evra is replaced by Silvestre. United new signing has had a good game tonight, but seems to be limping a little as he departs.
- 78'
Emerton and Savage combine well down the left, but the low cross in to the area is cut out by Brown.
- 78'
Blackburn do well down the right-hand side, with Neill breaking in to the penalty area and forcing Ferdinand to put the ball behind for a corner.
- 77'
It seems that Pedersen has been asked to go through the middle to support Bentley up-front, with Reid and Emerton supporting from the wings.
- 76'
BLACKBURN SUB: Kuqi off, Emerton on. A strange change from Hughes, replacing his only natural striker with a midfielder.
- 75'
United win their sixth corner of the match. Rooney ambles over to take it, though Kuqi deals with the cross at the back post.
- 74'
GOOD EFFORT! Van Nistelrooy and Rooney link up well, with the Dutchman finding the youngster on the edge of the area, Rooney turning and firing a snap-shot on goal that Friedel does well to save at his near post.
- 73'
Blackburn are just beginning to pass the ball a bit better in midfield, though they are still struggling to find that killer final ball in the last third.
- 72'
Still no sign of a change from either manager; Ferguson must be tempted to bring on another midfielder, just to shore things up?
- 71'
Mark Hughes has won the League Cup with three different clubs: can you name them? (Answer in the 80th minute)

