Michael Carrick fulfilled a lifelong ambition of winning
a major trophy at Wembley after the Reds came from behind to beat
Aston Villa and retain the Carling Cup.
The 28-year-old midfielder missed out on last season's Wembley
triumph against Tottenham Hotspur after being rested by Sir Alex
Ferguson.
Having experienced the pain of a cup final defeat - when United
lost to Chelsea in the 2007 FA Cup final - Carrick was over the
moon to end the day on the winning side this time round.
"It’s a great feeling to lift the cup. It’s a first Carling Cup win
for me and it’s a dream to win at Wembley," he told
MUTV.
"We didn't get off to a good start, but we at least had a lot of
time to get back in the game. The last few matches we’ve played at
Wembley have been quite dull affairs, but this was an open
end-to-end game and I thought we played well.
"We always believed we could go on to win it. We just had to be
patient and trust each other. When we play our football we always
believe we will get chances and it was a great finish my Michael
[Owen] after great work by Berba.
"Thankfully Wayne came on and finished it off for us and I think we
were deserved winners."
While keen to praise a great team effort, Carrick reserved a
special metion for United's matchwinner.
"Wayne is scoring a lot of very important goals for us and a lot
with his head," added Carrick in reference to Rooney's seventh
headed goal in his last eight games.
"It was a terrific finish and he could have had another one when he
hit the post. Hopefully he can keep his scoring run going."