Blackburn Rovers – Manchester United

A goal each after the first leg at Old Trafford. Can Rovers reach their second successive final or will United face their arch-rivals Liverpool in Cardiff next month? Live commentary here from 20.00 GMT.

Rovers have Lucas Neill in the side after his yellow card reprieve from the first leg. For the visitors, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is out, allowing Ryan Giggs to return to the starting line-up. Nicky Butt is on the bench for the first time since his October ankle injury...

United, in red and black tonight, kick off at Ewood Park

Neill miscontrols and Veron prods it forward for Van Nistelrooy for an early blast from outside the box - not far wide

Now United build from deep, but McEveley at left-back is cool to head back to goalkeeper Friedel

Giggs bursts clear after Silvestre's ball over the top. Todd asleep. But the Welshman's miscontrol is fatal and Rovers can get back to sweep up

United dominating possession in these early exchanges - but Giggs should have done better

Yorke gets a first touch wide on the right but Keane and Silvestre team up to rob the ball

Mistake by McEveley, whose clearance goes straight to Beckham. The England skipper shapes to shoot initially but then chooses to play it to Giggs, who toe-pokes from the edge of the box, straight into Friedel's chest.

Duff bursts forward from midfield - finding Thompson cutting inside from the right in support. Brown stands tall though and United get back in numbers to clear

More pressure from the home side as Yorke and Cole threaten in a goal-mouth scramble. Duff then cross from the left but eventually Barthez gets down to gather

United resume their possession football - a dozen or so passes shift the ball around before Van Nistelrooy is targetted. Taylor shields it back to Friedel

Yorke gives it away and United move it quickly upfield towards the Dutchman. Friedel again gathers though

Tugay chips into the box. Cole gets a yard on Brown and lofts a perfect finish over the on-rushing Barthez. 1-0 Rovers!

Against the run of play but a beautifully worked goal, with a finish to match. Cole naturally delighted

United look to hit back immediately, Beckham crossing, but Taylor is up to beat Van Nistelrooy

Flitcroft sprays it wide to Duff, whose cross takes a slight deflection opff Beckham and almost fools Barthez at the far post. Corner

Thompson takes but Neville heads clear. United move forward but Tugay is back to launch a counter...

Cole is put clean through with Brown to beat, but the defender forces him onto his left foot and the shot is disappointing

Giggs' dummy allows Van Nistelrooy to feed Veron arriving from deep. A ferocious drive - but it smashes straight into the Dutch striker and loops back off Veron into Friedel's hands

Brown and Silvestre get muddled and Rovers have a corner

Thompson takes again and in charge the big men from the back, but it's headed over the top. United counter but Giggs strays offside as Scholes pushes the ball wide

Now Giggs finds Silvestre on the overlap. A low cross evades everyone and McEveley comes inside to hoof clear under pressure from Beckham

Beckham looks for Giggs with a long ball, but Taylor is strong. Then Todd has to recover after gifting the ball back to the Welshman

Cole disappointed as McEveley delays his pass too long - the offside flag's up

A very loose ball from Beckham ends another stretch of quickfire Unitde passing. But Veron's in hard on Thompson to halt Rovers' counter. Ref Jeff Winter orders a freekick 40 yards out

Rovers work it wide to Thompson, looking for Yorke with a driven cross, but United can clear

Now a freekick to United. Veron finds Neville haring down the right in space. Keane's at the far post but his shot is deflected. Rovers scramble the corner clear

United rebuild though, Silvestre finding Beckham to cross. McEveley and Todd hesitate and Scholes seizes on it to rifle past Friedel for the leveller. 1-1!

All square on aggregate and away goals now and United are rewarded for their more enterprising play

Neill finds Thompson on the right. The former Liverpool man twists to find space to cross but beyond Yorke and Cole, who were rather close together in the box

Beckham is sloppy and Tugay sets off on the counter. But Duff is hobbling badly and Rovers have to kick it out of play

Looks like a hamstring injury and former United winger Keith Gillespie comes on

Van Nistelrooy cuts inside Neill to unleash a wicked half-volley that Friedel palms away one-handed. Great save, typical of his form this season

Now Scholes is clean through, but he's not the quickest of United's attackers and Taylor recovers to get a foot in

Gillespie makes his first contribution on the right, finding Thompson in support. Neill arrives from the back but his cross is easy for Barthez to gather

Giggs, over on the right, tries to burst past McEveley, but the young defender is quick enough and strong enough to shield the ball out for a goalkick

Tugay surges through midfield with the United rearguard backpedalling furiously. The Turkish international tries to chip it through to Yorke, who's offside as the ricochets its way through

Neville bursts clear on the right with McEveley left for dead by Beckham's pass. The England rightback pulls the ball back from the byeline, and - you guessed it - Scholes is in space to side-foot home. 2-1 United

Giggs now has a crack from range but it's easy for Friedel

Keane is sent crashing in midfield but Veron scoops up the loose ball, looking for Van Nistelrooy up ahead, but the Dutchman stops his run after straying offside

Two minutes to be added as Silvestre holds off Gillespie to let the ball run out of play. Graeme Souness looks unimpressed by the Frenchman's use of the arm, but Jeff Winter is having none of it

Half-time whistle goes and United have recovered from the early blow delivered by their former striker to lead 2-1, no little thanks to Paul Scholes' expert finishing

Rovers restart - needing to score at least twice to win this tie outright

It's United on the attack though, with Silvestre bursting down the left, ahtough his cross flies behind Friedel's goal

Now it's Giggs on the right - winning a corner off Taylor. United play it short and work it around the box. Beckham lofts one towards the six-yard box and Thompson has to hoof behind

Beckham aims to the far post where Veron eventually prods it inside for Giggs to stab at goal. Friedel gets down brilliantly to save and then, still off his feet, hook the ball clear from the onrushing United forwards

Superb goalkeeping but Rovers need to be making an impression at the other end

Neill tries to remedy this by looking for Cole but Silvestre is strong in the air

McEveley loses control as he takes on Neville. It bounces up at Beckham with the crowd screaming for handball, but United counter

Beckham, unworried, sprints onto a cross into the box and goes down under Thompson's grappling challenge. United furious as Jeff Winter rules no penalty. It looked like a foul but Beckham made the most of it. Suddenly this tie is threatening to boil over

Yorke and Neville exchange pleasantries before play finally resumes. United still dominant, Rovers looking rather toothless without Duff after his first-half injury

Tugay orchestrates some decent passing from the home side. It comes inside to Yorke who turns to look for support inside but his ball goes behind Cole and Thompson and Beckham can pick up

McEveley goes in a la Stuart Pearce to deny Neville a chance to cross inside the box

Gillespie finds room to cross from the right - first real bit of danger this half from Rovers - but Ferdinand and Brown are there in force

Neill slides a low ball for Yorke to chase. Brown comes across and Yorke goes flying under a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge. Freekick, albeit a harsh one

Cole rises for Thompson's swinger, forcing a sharp reaction save from Barthez. Ferdinand heads over before Rovers force another

This time Barthez fumbles slightly, but Keane hacks away after a moment of hesitation

Giggs goes down unconvincingly under Taylor's challenge. Winter again waves away the appeal before Rovers counter. Gillespie crosses but Thompson's header is high and wide

Giggs goes off on a marauding run. He pauses, awaiting support which arrives in the form of Keane, who delivers a powerful low drive that Friedel again does well to block one-handed before gathering

More good work from Giggs, this time centrally. He finds Veron on the left before moving into the box to hook the Argentinian's cross at goal. Agonisingly close but Friedel does just enough to guide the ball around the post

Yorke is up to head Beckham's corner and Rovers hoof it away

It's increasingly forlorn for Rovers, 3-2 down on aggregate. They need one goal to take it into extra-time but United are looking far likelier

Tugay finds Cole on the Rovers left but Keane is across to interrupt

This time Gillespie finds Cole wide on the right. A decent cross but Barthez is first to meet it

Neville heads behind under little pressure. Souness urges his big men, Todd and Taylor, forward but Thompson's corner delivery goes over the bar

United sitting deep at the moment, rather inviting pressure. Yorke tries to turn in the box but Beckham and a host of red shirts close in

Beckham's pass falls a little short for Giggs' run into the box. Rovers can clear

...and win another corner on the right. Beckham heads half clear but Thompson can cross again. Yorke's lurking but United scramble away

A ball over the top and suddenly Van Nistelrooy is clean through, beating the last man before tumbling under Friedel's challenge. Penalty!

Ref Winter is more than lenient on Friedel, who only get a yellow card. There was no-one else around. But Van Nistelrooy is unfussed, stepping up to sweep the spot-kick home. 3-1 United!

Another emphatic penalty for the Dutchman and United are surely through to a final meeting with their friends from Liverpool

More cause for the visitors to celebrate as Nicky Butt makes his first-team return as Scholes' replacement

United heap on the pressure as Todd has to clear under pressure from Neville

United work the ball around, before Veron makes a fool of himself, miscontrolling as he tries to fool Taylor in the box

Thompson's frustrations get the better of him as he takes Neville's legs clean away with a rash tackle from behind in midfield

Forlan replaces Van Nistelrooy, who has looked sharp tonight

Neill pushes forward on the right, crossing for Thompson to swing a boot at it first-time from the edge of the box - but poorly struck and Barthez is unworried

Offside against Flitcroft as the Blackburn skipper makes a charge into the box

Neville gets past the tiring McEveley. Forlan's at the near post but guides his low side-footer wide of Friedel's left post

Home supporters streaming out of Ewood Park now - they know their team's defence of the Worthington Cup is over

Forlan battles past two defenders to get a shot in after Beckham's long ball. Friedel is sharp again to save one-handed and claw the ball back into his grasp

A shambolic tussle on the deck between Neville and Thompson and that's it for this semi-final. United are well worth their 3-1 victory, taking them into the final 4-2 on aggregate

Yet again the Red Devils were unphased after going a goal down, maintaining their high-tempo passing game and reaping the rewards with two well-taken goals from Scholes before the break, before Van Nistelrooy's penalty clincher