Nyland the hero as Trezeguet hits the Targett for Villa

ASTON VILLA 2 LEICESTER CITY 1 CARABAO CUP SEMI-FINAL 2ND LEG VILLA WIN 3-2 ON AGGREGATE

ASTON VILLA reached their first league cup final for a decade with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Leicester in the second leg of their semifinal at Villa Park.

Trezeguet grabbed Villa’s stoppage-time winner to send the five-time victors to Wembley after Kelechi Iheanacho’s secondhalf strike had cancelled out Matt Targett’s 12th-minute opener to give Villa a 3-2 triumph on aggregate.

Villa, though, owe a huge debt of gratitude to goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, who produced three outstanding first-half saves, with boss Dean Smith opting to keep faith with the Norwegian who had served him well in the first leg at the King Power Stadium, at the expense of recent signing Pepe Reina.

A fifth-minute lay-off from Iheanacho for James Maddison resulted in a low right-footed curler that was bound for the bottom corner, only for Nyland to tip the ball beyond his left-hand post.

After Maddison had then drilled a first-time drive from just outside the area inches past the same section of the goal frame two minutes later, the midfielder was again brilliantly thwarted by a full-stretch Nyland’s fingertips in the ninth minute. What followed in the 12th from Villa was a good old-fashioned counterpunch as breaking from deep, Douglas Luiz fed Jack Grealish down the left, and after a surge into the box, the Villa skipper in turn played in the overlapping Targett.

In front of the Holte End, the defender then struck a sweet first-time drive from an acute angle beyond Kasper Schmeichel.

Nyland’s best in the first half was yet to come. Letting fly from 20 yards, Youri Tielemans’ curling strike was destined for the top corner, yet with a clawing right hand, Nyland managed to push the ball on to the bar.

Eighteen minutes from time Iheanacho, who had scored City’s equaliser in the first leg, repeated the trick by arriving at the far post on to Harvey Barnes’ threaded ball through the six-yard box to the far post for his sixth goal in five games against Villa.

After Foxes centre-back Jonny Evans had spurned a headed chance four minutes from time, Villa then grabbed the winner in added time as two subs combined, with Ahmed Elmohamady’s deep ball to the far post met by Trezeguet.