The 1994 Football League Cup Final took place on 27 March 1994 at the old

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. It was contested between Manchester United and Aston Villa. Aston Villa won 3–1, with one goal from

Dalian Atkinson Dalian Robert Atkinson (21 March 1968 – 15 August 2016) was an English professional footballer who played as a striker. During his club football career, he played in England for Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Manchester Ci ...

and two from

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

, to claim their fourth

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

final victory; Manchester United's goal was scored by

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

, before

Andrei Kanchelskis Andrei Antanasovich Kanchelskis ( uk, Андрій Антанасович Канчельскіс; russian: Андрей Антанасович Канчельскис; born 23 January 1969) is a professional football manager and former player. He ...

was sent off for handball. Manchester United won both the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

that season, the result denying United a

domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A ''continental treble'' involves winning the club's national league competition, main national cup competition, and main continental trophy. A ...

, while Villa finished 10th in the Premier League.

Road to Wembley

Aston Villa

Match

Summary

Aston Villa had finished runners-up to Manchester United in the league the previous season, but were in poor form going into the League Cup final, having lost their last three games. The bookmakers and national press were predicting that the Villa would be beaten comfortably at Wembley. Manchester United had suffered a slight blip of their own with a couple of draws in their previous league matches and high-profile red cards to

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

and

Peter Schmeichel Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

– but victory in the League Cup was predicted to be the first part of a domestic treble. Alex Ferguson decided to field a full-strength team with the exception of the suspended Schmeichel, who was deputised by former Villa keeper

Les Sealey Leslie Jesse Sealey (29 September 1957 – 19 August 2001) was an English professional footballer and coach. He played as a goalkeeper, most notably in the top flight for Coventry City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, and West Ham United. ...

. Villa boss

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

decided to field a five-man midfield with

Tony Daley Anthony Mark Daley (born 18 October 1967) is an English former footballer, who made the vast majority of his appearances for Aston Villa, playing mainly as a winger, well known for his pace. Playing career Daley joined hometown club Aston ...

and

on the flanks and young attacking midfielder

Graham Fenton Graham Anthony Fenton (born 22 May 1974) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is the current manager of Blyth Spartans. He played as a striker in the Premier League for Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Leice ...

playing in a withdrawn role behind striker

. The match began with Aston Villa playing a fast counter-attacking game. United saw a lot of the ball, but the Villa defence, marshalled by former Manchester United centre-back Paul McGrath, rendered Cantona anonymous. There was a scare for Villa when

Mark Bosnich Mark John Bosnich (born 13 January 1972) is an Australian former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper, and sports pundit. He played in England for Premier League clubs Aston Villa, Manchester United and Chelsea. He also played in ...

looked to have brought down Roy Keane outside the box, but the referee waved play on. Aston Villa's only chance in the first quarter of the match had been an inswinging corner from

Steve Staunton Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa and Liverpool. He also played in the Fo ...

which was touched over by Sealey. On 25 minutes, however,

Andy Townsend Andrew David Townsend (born 23 July 1963) is a former professional footballer and sports co-commentator for Premier League Productions and CBS Sports. As a player he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Aston ...

played a pass into the feet of

who flicked the ball over the top of United's defence and into the path of Atkinson, who put his side 1–0 up. In the second half, the pattern of the game remained the same, United sluggish and Villa playing a counter-attacking game. On 70 minutes, Kevin Richardson tackled United substitute

Lee Sharpe Lee Stuart Sharpe (born 27 May 1971) is an English professional golfer, former professional footballer, sports television pundit and reality television personality. As a player was predominantly a left winger from 1988 to 2004, he notably play ...

who looked certain to score. Five minutes later, Villa went down the other end and earned a free kick when Daley was brought down just outside the United box. Richardson swung it in and Saunders stuck a leg out to divert it into the net for Villa's second goal.

pulled a goal back for United with seven minutes remaining and was denied a second just moments later when Bosnich pushed a volley round the post. With time nearly up Villa broke once more, Daley striking the United post with a fantastic shot. The ball fell to Atkinson who hit it goalwards only for the ball to strike

on the hand. The Russian was to be red carded and could only watch as Dean Saunders converted the resulting penalty to complete the scoring in a 3–1 victory for Aston Villa. The match was also the last to be covered on the original BBC Radio 5; the station closed down that night, with

BBC Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcas ...

launching the following morning.

Details

References

External links

Game facts
at soccerbase.com

{{Manchester United F.C. matches League Cup Final League Cup Final 1994

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

League Cup Final 1994 1993–94 Football League March 1994 sports events in the United Kingdom