By 
Aston Villa will go to Wembley for the second time in under a year in the Carabao Cup final!
Words: Regan Foy | @findfoy
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Aston Villa were back at Villa Park this evening for the second leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final – with Mbwana Samatta making his first appearance for the club.
Both sides looked like they were raring to go in the opening four minutes, but Kelechi Iheanacho forced Orjan Nyland into a strong save early on – and Matt Targett returned the favour against Kasper Schmeichel shortly after.
Nyland was forced into another strong save as James Maddison fired a shot towards the bottom right corner – between Tyrone Mings’ outstretched legs.
If the game had ended after ten minutes, Orjan Nyland would have won Man of the Match – as Maddison forced him into another strong save .
After a period of pressure, there was a great goal to put Aston Villa ahead – and it was a wing-back again. Douglas Luiz played a perfectly weighted ball to Jack Grealish, who raced into the box before stopping the ball dead and chopping it into the path of Matt Targett – who rifled the ball past Schmeichel.
Anwar El Ghazi fired a dipping free-kick towards goal just before the quarter of an hour mark, but the ball floated just over the bar.
Villa Park thought that Mbwana Samatta had buried his first goal for the club in the 26th minute as Frederic Guilbert played the ball into the box for the Tanzanian – but the wing-back was offside when he received the ball.
Orjan Nyland made another crucial save as he got a fingertip to Youri Tieleman’s swirling effort, which was just enough to push the ball onto the bar in the 34th minute.
Both sides had sparks of an attack from this period onwards – but neither really looked like carving out a clear cut chance before the break.
Leicester City started the second half as they did the first – trying to find any way they could to get a shot away at Villa’s goal.
Jack Grealish fired just wide in the 53rd minute as Matt Targett offered some brilliance on the left before playing a ball into the Villa captain. Targett himself sliced wide just forty seconds later.
The 56th minute saw Jamie Vardy arrive and attempt to write his name into the story somehow.
Ezri Konsa was booked in the 57th minute for throwing the ball away as he argued with the linesman about a throw-in decision in Leicester’s half.
Douglas Luiz was booked in the 60th minute for kicking the ball away from a conceded free-kick in the Leicester half.
Aston Villa picked up the pressure after the hour mark with a few chances – Grealish firing over and Guilbert running into a strong position and forcing Chilwell to head over.
Mbwanna Samatta was inches away from getting a debut goal as Jack Grealish played a teasing ball into the box that Samatta – who was in a great position – just couldn’t get a touch of.
Samatta was replaced in the 66th minute by Keinan Davis.
Kelechi Iheanacho made it three goals from three games – and his second in this two-legged tie – in the 72nd minute as Harvey Barnes played a cross across the face of goal before the Nigerian international slammed into a half-open net.
Caglar Soyuncu was booked for a high challenge on Jack Grealish in the 75th minute.
The 77th minute saw Trezeguet come onto the pitch, replacing Anwar El Ghazi.
The Egyptian winger had a chance with nine minutes remaining, as Keinan Davis played him in – but it was a weak shot with no conviction that was easy to collect by Schmeichel.
The 84th minute saw Ahmed Elmohamady replace Frederic Guilbert, who had run his socks off.
Leicester’s final change came two minutes later as Birmingham City academy graduate Demarai Gray replaced Harvey Barnes.
Johnny Evans headed just wide in the 89th minute.
There were four minutes added on at the end of the 90.#
In the 93rd minute Aston Villa’s two Egyptian’s combined as Elmohamady played a long ball towards the back post from a central position, where Trezeguet was waiting to pounce and fired past Schmeichel.
WE’RE GOING TO WEMBLEY!
