Aston Villa (1) 1 Milner 5(pen)
Manchester United (1) 2 Owen 13, Rooney 74
WAYNE ROONEY came off the bench to head the winning goal as Manchester United became the first team for 20 years to retain the League Cup with a 2-1 win against Aston Villa at Wembley.
Rooney's goal was his 28th of the season and enabled United to emulate Nottingham Forest's achievement of back-to-back wins but Villa will consider that it could have been all so different.
The final had an explosive start as Gabriel Agbonlahor was hauled down by Nemanja Vidic and the referee Phil Dowd awarded a penalty inside the first five minutes, converted by James Milner.
But, astonishingly, Dowd obviously considered it to be too early to produce any sort of card for Vidic despite him denying Agbonlahor a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
There could be no other explanation for Dowd's failure to send off the Serbian defender as Villa lost out on what would have been a clear advantage.
Dowd further infuriated the Villa fans by producing early yellow cards for James Collins and Stewart Downing while United players continued to escape punishment for similar fouls.
But there could be few Villa complaints from the manner in which they conceded the equaliser on 13 minutes.
Richard Dunne clumsily lost the ball to Dimitar Berbatov inside his own half and although the Irish international recovered with a brilliant tackle in the box, the ball fell kindly for Michael Owen to slot home cooly from 18 yards.
To his credit, Owen finished well but the calls for his return to the England squad based solely on the goal which followed from BBC commentator Guy Mowbray were cringeworthy.
And, within half an hour of Mowbray's lauding of Owen, he had been proved wrong. Another regulation run towards the box forced Owen to break down with a suspected hamstring injury.
Fabio Capello has not included him in the squad for this week's friendly at Egypt anyway and yet another injury casts further doubts over Owen's reliability.
It is certainly unlikely to convince the Italian to change his mind when he comes to make his decision for the 23 places on the plane to South Africa.
Rooney's introduction coincided with a push by United just before half time, though - for once - the United talisman was not involved in the Red Devils' best chance.
Instead, that fell to Ji-Sung Park after Antonio Valencia slipped his marker all to easily and pulled the ball back perfectly to Park, in space about 12 yards out.
The South Korean could only hit the post and, as the ball came back out to him, Milner smothered the remaining danger.
If the first half had started like an exocet, the second period began like a damp squib, save for once chance to Michael Carrick, and a sodden Wembley pitch had cut up badly.
Sir Alex Ferguson had to make a second enforced subsitution as Gary Neville came on for Rafael da Silva at right-back.
United continued to dominate possession but Villa's organised defence were able to cope well enough as the Rooney-Berbatov partnership failed to spark once again.
But one man who Villa failed to deal with all afternoon was Valencia, and it was no surprise to see the Ecuadorian had a heavy involvement in the winner.
With time starting to run out, man of the match Valencia skipped down the right and put up a cross towards Rooney.
Rooney still had much to do with the header as there was not much pace on the ball but the striker was able to loop the ball cleverly into the top corner above Brad Freidel.
The same pair, Valencia and Rooney, combined again minutes later as United looked to put the result beyond doubt.
This time, Rooney was desperately unlucky not to double his own tally having directed a powerful header off the inside of the post.
While there was only one goal between the teams, Villa remained in with a chance and Martin O'Neill introduced John Carew from the bench with ten minutes left.
By then, though, the narrative of the match seemed to have been set. Even with three strikers on the field, Villa made little headway and United had chances on the break.
Just one chance fell Villa's way in the closing stages and Dunne was unable to atone for his earlier error by just failing to connect with Downing's cross.
After the game, Villa - and O'Neill in particular - railed about the injustice of Dowd's early decision over Vidic.
O'Neill has a point, of course, and United may not have been able to control the game in the manner which they did if they had been reduced to 10 men.
Once again, though, Rooney proved the difference. Ably assisted by Valencia's fine performance down the right, Ferguson has a remarkable 33rd trophy to celebrate as United manager.
Teams
Aston Villa
Friedel - Cuellar (Carew 80), Collins, Dunne, Warnock - A Young, Milner, Petrov, Downing - Heskey, Agbonlahor. Booked: Collins, Downing.
Manchester United
Kuszczak - R Da Silva (Neville 66), Vidic, Evans, Evra - Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Park (Gibson 85) - Owen (Rooney 42), Berbatov. Booked: Vidic, Evra.
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Preview
ASTON VILLA will go in search of their first silverware since they won this competition in 1996 by beating Leeds United 3-0.
The League Cup has often brought the best out of Villa who have five previous wins, ahead of Manchester United's three wins and indeed second only on the all-time list to Liverpool's seven.
But this match will mark Villa's first appearance at the new Wembley Stadium, having not played in a final since losing 1-0 to Chelsea in the FA Cup in 2000.
Of course, Martin O'Neill's men will hope to invoke the spirits of 1994 when Villa deservedly beat United 3-1 in 1994 with goals Dalian Atkinson and Dean Saunders.
Or perhaps O'Neill will recall his own fond memories of this competition having won it twice as a player with Nottingham Forest in 1978 and 1979 and twice as a manager with Leicester City in 1997 and 2000.
By contrast, the League Cup has not often been seen as a priority by Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United.
But their recent record of two wins in the last four years suggests that view is changing.
In 2006, United thrashed Wigan Athletic 4-0 with two goals from Wayne Rooney, and one each from Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo.
And in 2009, United beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 on penalties after a tight 0-0 draw. Ben Foster was the hero of the hour, saving penalties from Jamie O'Hara and David Bentley while United converted all of theirs.
Recent form
Villa are the only unbeaten Premier League team in 2010 and go into the final on the back of a 12-match unbeaten run.
One of those matches was a hard-fought 1-1 draw with United at Villa Park in which Carlos Cuellar gave the Villans the lead.
Villa have not yet been behind in the two league matches against the Red Devils this season, from which they took four points.
O'Neill's men beat United 1-0 in December for their first win at Old Trafford since 1983.
That loss is one of nine defeats which United have suffered during the season so far in which Ferguson's men have shown uncharacteristic vulnerability.
But Ferguson got the usual reaction to their latest league loss at Everton last week when United beat West Ham with ease on Tuesday night to close the gap at the top back to one point.
Routes to the Final
Aston Villa began their campaign with a 1-0 win against Cardiff City at Villa Park in the third round. Gabriel Agbonlahor's third-minute goal was enough to separate the teams.
In the fourth round, American goalkeeper Brad Guzan saved four Sunderland spot-kicks, including one in normal time, as Villa beat the Black Cats 3-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light.
Villa then beat Portsmouth 4-2 in the fifth round, despite Stilyan Petrov scoring an own goal after just 10 minutes.
Villa fought back with goals from Emile Heskey, James Milner and Stewart Downing to lead 3-1 before Nwankwo Kanu gave Pompey some late hope, only for that to be extinguished by Ashley Young.
In the two-legged semi final against Blackburn Rovers, Villa - struggling for goals in the league - seemed to have saved all of them for this tie as they ultimately prevailed 7-4.
After Villa gained a narrow first leg advantage at Ewood Park, the two teams were embroiled in a ten-goal thriller at Villa Park.
Early on, Blackburn fought back to lead 2-0 on the night, 2-1 on aggregate, with two goals from Nikola Kalinic before Stephen Warnock levelled the tie at 2-2.
The vital moment came just before half time when Christopher Samba was sent off for hauling down Agbonlahor and James Milner converted the penalty to make it 3-2.
Villa stretched their lead against the ten men in the second half with an own goal from Steven N'Zonzi and further strikes from Heskey and Agbonlahor.
But, even at 5-2 down, Rovers refused to give up and Martin Olsson and Brett Emerton put the tie back in the balance before Ashley Young scored another breakaway goal to make it 6-4.
Manchester United made serene progress through the early rounds to set up their own dramatic semi final against Manchester City.
United beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 in the third round at Old Trafford with a goal from Danny Welbeck after Fabio da Silva had been sent off.
Welbeck scored again as United made light work of a trip to Barnsley in the fourth round. Michael Owen also scored to make it 2-0 at Oakwell in a match marred by crowd trouble.
And in the fifth round, another youngster Darron Gibson scored twice in the first half as United easily overcame Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Old Trafford.
That set up a much anticipated semi final with City which lived up to its billing.
Carlos Tevez struck twice against his former club as City came back from Ryan Giggs' early goal to lead the tie 2-1 after the first leg.
But Rooney had the vital last word as United beat City in stoppage time for the second time this season after a controversial 4-3 league success in September.
Leading 2-1 from the first leg, City reached half time with the score at 0-0 at Old Trafford.
United turned up the style in the second half as Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick sent them 3-2 ahead on aggregate.
But Tevez scored his third goal of the tie with less than quarter of an hour to play and extra time beckoned before Rooney's close-range header from Giggs' cross.
Aston Villa
R3 v Cardiff City (h) W1-0 Agbonlahor
R4 v Sunderland (a) D0-0, won 3-1 on penalties
R5 v Portsmouth (a) W4-2 Heskey, Milner, Downing, A Young
SF1 v Blackburn R (a) W1-0 Milner
SF2 v Blackburn R (h) W6-4 Warnock, Milner (p), Nzonzi og, Heskey, Agbonlahor, A Young
Manchester United
R3 v Wolverhampton W (h) W1-0 Wellbeck
R4 v Barnsley (a) W2-0 Wellbeck, Owen
R5 v Tottenham Hotspur (h) W2-0 Gibson 2
SF1 v Manchester City (a) L1-2 Giggs
SF2 v Manchester City (h) W3-1 Scholes, Carrick, Rooney
Odds
Match betting: Manchester United 5/6, Aston Villa 7/2, Draw 12/5
To win the trophy: Manchester Utd 2/5, Aston Villa 7/4
Prediction: 2-0 to Manchester United
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