Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted to uphold his unbeaten record in semi finals with Manchester United thanks to a "fantastic" performance from his in-form midfielder Paul Scholes.
United set up a meeting with Liverpool at the Millenium Stadium on March 2 with a 3-1 win over Blackburn at Ewood Park, taking them through to the Wortthington Cup final 4-2 on aggregate.
They had gone behind to a goal from former Old Trafford favourite Andy Cole but responded with two goals before half-time, both from Scholes, and added a Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty in the second half.
Scholes has now scored seven times in his last six games and has already equaled his season's best tally of 14. Wednesday night's double earned him the man of the match award, and both managers were in no doubt that he had turned the game in United's favour.
Ferguson said: "They just couldn't control Paul Scholes, particularly in the first half.
"Paul has settled into the positions we know he is good at, he's always been given the licence to be that extra player to get into the box and he's matured, he's been fantastic this season.
"Maturity brings a lot of things - understanding and a realisation of what he is good at."
Blackburn boss Graeme Souness questioned whether Scholes' may have handled the ball in scoring his first goal but he was nevertheless gracious in defeat.
He said: "Scholes may have controlled it with his arm or shoulder, but we can't really complain. There's no disgrace in losing to a team of that quality. They are a great side.
"I always felt we needed to score more than one against them to go through, and that proved correct.
"We didn't deal with Paul Scholes. He's a very, very special player particularly playing in that position behind the frontmen."
He added: "I always felt we had a chance, if Andy Cole had scored with that late header anything could have happened. But we were playing against very, very top players, as good as there are around.
"It was a test for some of our kids out there, and it was no disgrace to lose to them."
United can now look forward to their first final since winning the treble four years ago, and their manager added: "That is too long for us, and we are delighted.
"We have always looked at the League Cup as an extra to blood young players, but the format now has encouraged teams to have a go.
"Teams in Europe get a bye to the third round, then we got two home draws and that encouraged us to go for it.
"We've played Liverpool once in Cardiff - in the Charity Shield - and lost so I hope this time it will be a different result.
"But Liverpool-Manchester United games are always fantastic. You can't dismiss the magnitude of games like that, it doesn't matter if we were playing them at tiddlywinks it would still be a great competition. It will be a great final."
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