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Preamble
The League Cup semi-finals; a Manchester derby. We’ve been here twice before.
In December 1969, City welcomed United to Maine Road for the first leg. Colin Bell gave the hosts an early lead, Bobby Charlton drove home an equaliser midway through the second half, then with two minutes to go, Ian Ure brought down Franny Lee, who belted home a penalty to give City the halfway advantage. Outside, 14 house windows, and one shop window, were broken, leading to the arrest of seven juveniles and three adults for disorderly behaviour. Here come the seventies!
In the second leg at Old Trafford, City extended their aggregate lead when Lee, Mike Summerbee and Neil Young combined to set up Ian Bowyer on 17 minutes. Six minutes later, United halved the arrears, Paddy Crerard teeing up Paul Edwards. On the hour, George Best’s shot was parried by Joe Corrigan into the path of Denis Law, with predictable results. Extra time loomed, but with eight minutes remaining, Alex Stepney failed to deal with Lee’s speculative free kick and Summerbee sent City to Wembley, where they would beat West Bromwich Albion the following March.
The boot was on the other foot in 2010. It’s the Carlos Tevez tie! Manchester City were looking to reach a major Wembley final for the first time in 29 years. Tevez, who had crossed the divide the previous summer, scored twice in the first leg at the Etihad, wiping out Ryan Giggs’ early opener for a 2-1 victory. Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick put United 3-2 up on aggregate in the second half of the second leg at Old Trafford, but when Tevez scored with an outrageous mid-air backflick, extra time looked on the cards. Then Wayne Rooney popped up with a header deep into injury time, and City would have to wait another year to end their long wait for a trophy. United beat Aston Villa in the final.
Plenty of water has passed under the bridge since, of course. And here we all are. It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm.
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