Manchester United went through to the final of the Carling Cup but left Old Trafford with quite a few injuries- throughout the match Rafael, Anderson, Nani and Evan's were injured and Neville and Giggs picked up knocks.

Rafael has a hamstring injury so he will be out for around a month, Anderson was stretchered off and will have an x-ray.


Man United were 1-0 down from the first leg which could have been 3-0 so we had to make them pay for not scoring more goals in the first game.

The Man United team was a very young looking team with a few experienced players:
Foster, Rafael, Evan's, Neville, O'Shea, Nani, Anderson, Gibson, Giggs, Tevez and Welbeck.

The first half of the match was dominated by United who scored three goals,but it was Derby who had the first shot at goal but the ball flew wide, the last thing we needed was Derby to score an early goal because away goals do count.

16 minutes into the match, Nani picked up the ball from around the halfway line, he ran, cut inside and unleashed an outstanding strike which went past former Man United goalie Roy Carroll to draw United 1-1 on aggregate.

Six minutes later, John O'Shea was given alot of time in the penalty area which allowed him to hit the ball past Carroll to give United for the first time in the semi-finals a lead.

10 minutes until halftime and Man United got their third goal when Giggs and Rafael took a quick corner, Rafael's ball into the box was superb and Tevez was there to head the ball into the back of net, this goal made Tevez the Carling Cup's joint top goal scorer.

Just before halftime, United lost their first player to injury, Fletcher came on for Rafael a few minutes before the break.

During halftime it looked like it was all over and it was only a matter of how many more goals we could score, but it was a nervy last few minutes.

Immediately into the second half United were awarded a freekick which Giggs took and Carroll only just managed to get away from the goal.

10 minutes left and Evan's picked up an ankle injury but United had made all of the substitions he stayed on. It was Evan's who gave away a penalty when he clipped Green in the area.
Barnes took it for Derby and put it past Foster who wasn't far off from getting a touch to it.

The score was now 3-2 on aggregate with Derby having an away goal and it wasn't going to be their last.

88 minutes in and Man United were awarded a penalty when Carroll took Tevez out in the penalty area, United had a penalty and Carroll was booked. Ronaldo (who came on in the second half) stood up, took the penalty and scored his first goal in thirteen games.

It wasn't all over, Man United may have been 4-2 up on aggregate but Derby got a third goal which left us with a nail biting finish.

Derby's third goal came from a freekick, Barnes fantastic shot went in past Foster to make it Man United 4-3 Derby.

The match finished 4-3 and Anderson was stretchered off after the final whistle and now we can look forward to the FA Cup on Saturday against Tottenham, hopefully we can get a few defenders back before Saturday.

Before the match there was much talk about Nani having to impress Sir Alex and he definitely did that, his goal was fantastic, he had a few shots at goal which were on target and his balls in were alot better, lets hope he can keep it up.