By Chris O'Brien
February 7 2006

Manchester United will face Lancastrian rivals Wigan Athletic in the League Cup final on February, 26th. Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha were on target as the Red Devils booked their ticket to the Millennium Stadium.

Manchester United are already being touted as firm favourites to lift only their second-ever Football League Cup crown, following a nervy 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers in Wednesday night's semi-final second-leg. Goals from Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha were enough for the Red Devils to book their ticket to Cardiff, though it was tight for the Red Army with United sneaking through 3-2 on aggregate.

The media had been billing up a repeat of the 2005 F.A Cup final at the Millennium Stadium on February, 28th. However Jason Roberts stunned Arsenal with an 'away goal' strike in the dieing seconds of extra-time to send Paul Jewell's Wigan Athletic into their first ever major cup final. United will not get a chance of revenge for the greatest injustice in footballing history, but the Lancastrian derby looks set to make an excellent final to a rejuvenated competition.

Wednesday's victory was not a memorable game, and United were by no means on top form. Things looked excellent as Ruud Van Nistelrooy took advantage of some slack defending in the fifth minute to bear down on Brad Fridel and coolly slot past the American international.
Full report to follow as we prepare for yet another, and probably final, trip to the Welsh capital!

Full Time - Manchester United 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
(United win 3-2 on aggregate)
Attendance - 61,637

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra (Silvestre 80), Rooney, Fletcher, Giggs (Smith 13), Richardson, Saha, van Nistelrooy (Vidic 86).
Substitutes Not Used: Howard, Rossi.

Blackburn Rovers: Friedel, Neill, Nelsen, Khizanishvili, Gray, Reid, Savage, Tugay (Peter 86), Pedersen, Kuqi (Emerton 76), Bentley.
Substitutes Not Used: Enckelman, Todd, Mokoena.