Trezeguet sends Villainto League Cup final

A stoppage-time strike from Trezeguet earned Aston Villa 3-2 aggregate victory over Leicester and a spot in the League Cup final amid dramatic late scenes at Villa Park.

After the first leg finished 1-1, Matt Targett put Villa ahead in the tie after just 12 minutes of the return fixture, but Kelechi Iheanacho equalised with a little under 20 minutes left on the clock.

Penalties appeared to be inevitable, but substitute Trezeguet volleyed home in the 93rd minute to put Villa into the final where they will face either Manchester City or Manchester United.

Leicester, who bombarded the Villa goal with 21 shots in the first leg draw at the King Power Stadium, continued where they left off, firing in shot after shot in the first half on Villa understudy goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, but the Norwegian stopper was having a stormer, making three sensational saves, with James Maddison the most frequently frustrated Fox.

Very much against the run of play, Villa, with their only shot on target in the first half, took the lead. Jack Grealish was again heavily involved, holding the ball up before feeding Targett, who hammered home his second-ever Villa goal from the angle.

Nyland again thwarted Villa, tipping Youri Tielemans’ goalbound strike onto the crossbar, and Leicester continued to attack en masse after the break, but they still could not find a way through.

Villa debutant Mbwana Samatta could not double his side’s advantage from close range, and that miss looked to have proved costly as Iheanacho met Harvey Barnes’ low cross to level things up, just as he did in the first leg.

However, two substitutes combined to send Villa Park into raptures, with Ahmed Elmohamady crossing for Trezeguet to volley home the dramatic winner, sparking a pitch invasion as the first-ever League Cup winners celebrated another trip to Wembley. – Eurosport