Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor wants to return to Wembley to help make up for the injustice he felt was suffered on his last appearance there in the 2010 League Cup final.
Agbonlahor will have a key part to play when Villa attempt to overturn a 3-1 first leg semi-final deficit in tonight's Capital One Cup clash with visiting Bradford. He is desperate to get back to Wembley to put behind him an incident in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United three years ago after only five minutes of the final.
Agbonlahor was hauled down inside the box by Nemanja Vidic and, although referee Phil Dowd gave a penalty, he chose not to send off the United defender despite what appeared a clear goalscoring opportunity. The Villa winger said: "You want to make it right, what happened in that last final. It is a case of unfinished business, definitely."
He added: "We've got to put that behind us now. We've just got to look at the Bradford game. We've got 90 minutes to get three goals to get through the tie."
Agbonlahor believes an early goal is key to Villa's chances of going through.
He said: "In the first leg the conditions, the pitch, the way they played, it suited them. We missed a lot of chances as well. If we can get that early goal like we did against West Brom at the weekend, everyone's confidence gets up.
"It is not going to be easy. Bradford will be dangerous on the counter-attack and we will respect them. But it should be a great atmosphere and the fans will play their part."
Villa boss Paul Lambert hopes Villa can make Bradford pay after the "disrespect" shown by one of their employees after the first leg. Bantams stadium announcer Paul Deo suggested Bradford fans consider booking hotel rooms for the final at Wembley next month in the aftermath of their victory.
When told of Deo's comments said, Lambert said: "I never heard that. But we'll see what happens. If he said that, then maybe it's a bit disrespectful. You don't count your chickens. Football's got a great habit of kicking you somewhere.
"It's disrespectful to do that. We'll see what happens after the game. Maybe you can understand him getting carried away, because it was their big moment. It was their home game. But it's disrespectful to do that to other teams."
Source: PA
