Carling Cup Final

Manchester United have added the first trophy to their collection this season, lifting the Carling Cup after a dramatic final with Tottenham at Welmbley Stadium, which went all the way to penalties. United won the toss for the goal where to have the penalties shot, choosing the end of the ground with their supporters.
Moreover, they also won the toss for the first penalty, which was slotted in by Ryan Giggs.Jamie O'Hara's penalty was saved by Ben Foster and David Bentley's penalty went wide as Tottenham apparently lost their nerve. United however had 100 per cent efficiency, with Giggs, Tevez, Ronaldo and Anderson all being on target.

The match itself was an even, hard-fought, fast, passionate affair with both teams having missed on opportunities that could have tilted the score to their favour in regular time. Tottenham will regret the opportunities wasted by Aaron Lennon and Darren Bent both forcing Ben Foster to show an amazing goal-keeping skill who managed to keep the United goal dry.

Concurrently, Manchester United also missed opportunities, with Ronaldo and Tevez failing to beat the Spurs keeper and then the Red Devils should have had a penalty when Cristiano Ronaldo was brought down in the box in the second half.A massive day at Wembley and for both sets of supporters, as the match went to full time. Extra time resumed but after 30 minutes of added time neither side could out muscle or outsmart the opposition, thus it was left up to penalties to settle it for the second time in League Cup final history.

Ferguson kept faith with the players who had taken the Reds to Wembley and did not change the squad, giving the younger players the chance to win for what they had fought for so hard. With the exception of Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand, every member of the starting line up of the team had started at least one match earlier in the competition.Tottenham fought very hard for it, but it was ultimately United's crisp passing and non-stop movement that kept the Spurs chasing shadows for most of the first half.

Gibson was inches away from netting a 25-yard scorcher, only for his effort to fade just past Gomes' top corner with the Brazilian beaten.Moments later the Brazilian clawed Nani's low shot round the post as United's pressure continued, only for Spurs to almost snatch the lead on 17 minutes.This is the first silverware for the Red Devils this season.

With Liverpool giving it all away to Middlesbrough, it looks like United will grab the premiership as well.Liverpool boss Benitez has said that he hopes for a United slip up in the league, but it is painfully apparent for him now that Liverpool's only hope for silverware this season, once again, is in Europe.

United: Foster, O'Shea (Vidic 76), Evans, Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, Gibson (Giggs 91), Nani, Tevez, Welbeck (Anderson 56).Booked: O'Shea, Ronaldo, Scholes.

Spurs: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (Bentley 102), Jenas (Bale 98), Zokora, Modric, Bent, Pavlyuchenko (O'Hara 65).

Credit to http://www.sofiaecho.com