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After Aston Villa registered a dramatic 3-2 aggregate win over Leicester City to advance into the final of the ongoing League Cup, club manager Dean Smith was proud of his players.
“I’m very proud of the players and I thought we made it an entertaining game. We know how good Leicester are and have been this season,” said Smith after the second leg on Tuesday at Villa Park as quoted by club’s official website.
Notably, in their first-leg semifinal at King Power Stadium on January 9 (IST), Villa played a 1-1 draw with Leicester City. However, on Tuesday, the hosts put up a good show to clinch the match 2-1.
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The game had entered four minutes of stoppage time with both teams levelled at 1-1, but Aston Villa scored the winner in the 93rd minute to bag the match 2-1.
“I’ve composed myself now, but I certainly let myself go when we scored that goal with two minutes to go,” said Smith, adding, “Very proud of the effort and the performance that the players put in today. It was a really good game to watch.”
Aston Villa, who have won the trophy five times, have reached the final of League Cup for a ninth time.
“It means an awful lot. We’ve got a proud history in this competition as I’ve said many times,” said Smith.
“If we could go and lift this trophy for a sixth time, I’d be a very proud man.
“We know it’s going to be tough against Manchester City or Manchester United, but the hard part is getting to a domestic cup final and we’ve managed to do that against a very good Leicester team,” he added.
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