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Game #4315

Aston Villa

Sunday, 27 March 1994

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Won

Final

Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟩

League Cup

Manchester United

Wembley Stadium

Attendance: 77,231

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

Aston Villa

3-1

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Manchester United

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Assist(s) | Dean Saunders | 25' | Kevin Richardson | 75' |

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

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MATCH TIMELINE

Sunday, 27 March 1994

⚽ | 25’ Goal, 1-0, Dalian Atkinson, Assist by Dean Saunders
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester United
⚽ | 75’ Goal, 2-0, Dean Saunders, Assist by Kevin Richardson
🔁 | 79’ Sub off, Steve Staunton, Sub on, Neil Cox
🥅 | 83’ Goal, 2-1, (Manchester United), Mark Hughes
🟥 | 90’ Sending off, (Manchester United), Andrei Kanchelskis
⚽ | 90+1’ Goal, 3-1, Dean Saunders (pen)
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United

Match Statistics

Not recorded

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

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ON THIS DAY

Sunday, 27 March 1994

  • Villa win their first major trophy since lifting the European Cup in 1982 as they sweep aside Manchester United in a dominant League Cup final display.

  • Villa win their first trophy under Ron Atkinson and their fourth League Cup in an outstanding Wembley performance despite coming into the game on the back of three successive poor Premier League defeats.

  • Dean Saunders scores his 30th and 31st goals for the club and contributes his 6th assist on his 90th appearance in a Villa shirt (89 Starts) to make it W44 D24 L22, 31 Goals and 6 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.43 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

  • Paul McGrath secures his 100th win in a Villa shirt on his 231st appearance to make it W100 D60 L71, 8 Goals, 9 Assists and 8 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

  • Kevin Richardson contributes his 30th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 148th appearance to make it W69 D38 L41, 15 Goals and 15 Assists so far in his Villa career.

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

None

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Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1993-94

Manchester United

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European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1992-93

Aston Villa

Manchester United

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FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

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Manchester United

Previous 5 vs. United: 🟩 🟩 🟨 🟥 🟥

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

FIXTURE DETAILS

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Season | 1993-94 |
Matchday | #48 |
Manager Game | #150 |
Sunday, 27 March 1994

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🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

MATCH SUMMARY

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Manager: Ron Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Liverpool, 1991-1994
Referee: Keith Cooper | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Pontypridd, 1982-1996
Kick off: 5.00pm
HT Score: 🟩 1-0
FT Score: 🟩 3-1
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟩

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Matches
Fixture

MANAGERIAL RECORD

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Ron Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1991-1994

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 150 | 🟩 | 69 🟨 | 39 🟥 42 | 1.64

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

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Ron Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1991-1994

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

MATCH OFFICIALS

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Referee: Keith Cooper | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Pontypridd, 1982-1996
Matches Officiated: 10
🟩 : 5
🟨 : 2
🟥 : 3
🆘 : 1
Previous 5: 🟨 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 8 January 1994, FA Cup, Villa 1-0 Exeter, St James' Park.
Cards: 🟥

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

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TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Villa make three changes for the League Cup final with Andy Townsend, Tony Daley and Dalian Atkinson being recalled, whilst Ray Houghton, Steve Froggatt and Garry Parker miss out.

Starting XI Average Age
| 27.54 |

Oldest Player |
CB Paul McGrath | 🇮🇪 | 34.33 |

Youngest Player |
F Graham Fenton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 19.86 |

Referee
Manager

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

MANAGER

Ron Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1991-1994

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Aston Villa

GK Mark Bosnich | 🇦🇺 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 | 🔁 |
CB Paul McGrath | 🇮🇪 |
CB Shaun Teale | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Earl Barrett | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 |
M Kevin Richardson | 🇮🇪 | 🔥 |
W Tony Daley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Dean Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | 🔥 | ⚽ | ⚽ |
CF Graham Fenton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Dalian Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |

MANAGER

Alex Ferguson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

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Manchester United

GK Les Sealey (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Denis Irwin | 🇮🇪 |
CB Steve Bruce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
CB Gary Pallister | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Paul Parker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Paul Ince | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Roy Keane | 🇮🇪 |
W Andrey Kanchelskis | 🇷🇺 | 🟥 |
W Ryan Giggs | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | 🔁 |
F Eric Cantona | 🇫🇷 |
CF Mark Hughes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |

Line Ups

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | RB Neil Cox | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 | 79’ |

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | CB Steve Bruce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (CF Brian McClair | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |)
🔁 | W Ryan Giggs | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | (W Lee Sharpe | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)

Substitutes

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Ray Houghton | 🇮🇪 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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GK Gary Walsh | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

Squad Bios

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 6/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 8/14

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 7/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/14

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

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MATCHDAY SQUAD

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🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

UNAVAILABLE

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Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE

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Not Recorded

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

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MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

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Tables & Programmes

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

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MATCH QUOTES

“My players did exactly what I asked. "We set out a tactical plan to counter United's tremendous strength in midfield and it worked perfectly. "We felt all along we were fated to win the Coca Cola Cup even when we went 3-0 down at Tranmere in the semi-final second leg. “We showed such character against United." Ron Atkinson.
Quotes

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

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MATCH REPORTS

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Reach PLC. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

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*Birmingham Evening Mail*
Monday, 28 March 1994

VILLA gave us far, far more than we dared to expect - 90 minutes to remember in our dreams. And the Coca-Cola League Cup in front of an enraptured Wembley crowd. The margin may have flattered them but the performance was of a scale that will stand proud in their illustrious history. United, ancient and honoured foes, a team experts have been toting as comparable with Busby's greatest, were at first controlled, then subdued by Villa's dedication to manager Ron Atkinson's masterplan. Possibly Alex Ferguson's men had the Treble trembles, but that wasn't how it looked to the thousands who roared Villa to their best win since Inter Milan were whipped in Birmingham. It was epic in its power to astonish - an intelligence game that could have been scripted by Le Carre, a, thriller from Forsyth and a spectacle out of Spielberg. United were embarking on the first of five matches which would probably determined whether they were to secure the first Treble. Yet, from the kick-off Villa were their equals or more in commitment and relatively close to them in the skills that have earmarked them as potential European contenders. Bear in mind that for their three previous matches, Villa had not looked as if they could beat Carshalton United, and the scene was set for a classic piece of underdoggery. And if it was not a complete revenge for last season's championship result, it was enough of one to give the champagne bubbles an extra kick last night. Skipper Kevin Richardson was chosen as official man of the match but he and everyone else among the 77,231 spectators who filled Wembley with all the colour and passion needed to complete a great occasion would agree that Villa had another ten marvellous men out there. We suspected they would raise their game to suit the stage but how high we could have no idea. Shaun Teale was a powerfully charismatic figure alongside the splendid Paul McGrath In the thick of defence; Richardson and Andy Townsend locked up the area in front of them and the full-backs were so effective that Ryan Giggs came off after an hour, but it might have been Andrei Kanchelskis. Then there were the goalecorers, Dean Saunders, twice, and Dalian Atkinson, while Tony Daley made Tommy Docherty's prematch rating of 5 out of 10 a seriously embarrassing piece of football judgment. Daley was the game's outstanding paceman. All of which omits Graham Fenton, 19 year old crop haired Geordie, whose intensity of concentration was translated into non stop running as Saunders’ support. He was the stroke Ron Atkinson pulled. United manager Alex Ferguson might, like many of us, have suspected Villa would man-mark Eric Cantona or Giggs or maybe mass in front of their penalty area. But in releasing Fenton to attack freely, he created a surprise channel from a five man midfield and took the pressure of close marking from Dalian Atkinson. The truth was that Dalian looked slightly bemused by this role until a revelation came 25 minutes into a game that United were just beginning to probe menacingly. Then Townsend struck a straight pass which Saunders flicked almost nonchalantly towards Atkinson whose run from the right had not been covered. Atkinson took one touch to control and nudged the ball wide of Les Sealey with the outside of his right shin. A Staunton inswinging corner which caused the United goalkeeper to make a late and desperate lunge was Villa's only other serious Incursion into the United area in the first half. Territorially, United secured a massive advantage. They played prettily in areas where there was no pain for Villa who must have been happy to admire Cantona's sumptuous Gallic flair out of range of goal. Mark Bosnich once swatted away a Roy Keane header but two minutes later, the Australian goalkeeper was again the subject of speculation as to whether he had committed a professional foul. Denis Irwin chipped over Villa’s defence and as Keane moved right he crashed into the goalkeeper. Bosnich had stepped into his party, and taking a lenient view, this might not have been deliberate. The important man, referee Cooper thought not, anyway. Perhaps, like the referee in the second leg of the semi-final against Tranmere, he was working to a version of Australian Rules. Bosnich escaped a sending off then - yesterday, Cooper waved play on. Villa continued to defend superbly but may have been fortunate again when Earl Barrett grounded Gary Pallister inside the area in the 43rd minute. The referee awarded a free kick just outside the area where, clearly, If an offence had been committed it was inside. However, Pallister had run across the tackle and was the author of his own fall. Both teams sparred in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Ferguson on the touchline impatiently urging Cantona and his colleagues to employ forward positions. Villa, however, appeared to have taken an unbreakable grip when Richardson moved Staunton's free-kick into Saunders's path. The centre-forward succeeded in diverting the ball as Mark Hughes had not 62 minutes earlier from the same spot past Sealey with one delicate turn of his left foot. Fifteen minutes to go and the League Cup seemed to be in Villa's hands. Then, with seven minutes to go, Hughes stunned a Keane shot, turned and thrust the ball wide of Bosnich. For the first time, the United horde scented claret-and-blue anxiety and, outshouting Villa's 35,000 for the only time, they almost urged an equaliser for Hughes who brought Bosnich pouncing to his left for a save that led to the eighth of nine United second half corners. United's urgent demands were bound to thin their defensive and when a 90th minute break-out came, Saunders rolled the ball to Daley whose shot hit a post, rebounding to Atkinson. His shot was instinctively handled by Kanchelskis whose punishment was a penalty and dismissal, United's third in three games. It seemed a harsh decision in the light of a fine and sporting match, Saunders drilled the ball straight while Sealey hurtled left. That was 3-1 and the final signal for an evening of entertainment. As it also booked a place in the UEFA Cup and the possibility of an attendant fortune, Villa will rightly feel that 90 minutes of excellence has alleviated an otherwise disappointing season.
Reports

🟩 27 March 1994, Villa 3-1 United, Wembley Stadium.

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MATCH VIDEO

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