FA Cup semi-final: Man City 1 Man United 0
YAYA TOURE booked Manchester City's place in the final for the first time in 30 years and ended 10-man United's hopes of winning a treble.
The Blues midfielder pounced on a mistake by Michael Carrick in 53 minutes to score a super goal that earned Roberto Mancini's men a priceless Wembley win.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side, who had Paul Scholes sent off in the second half for a horrendous tackle on Pablo Zabaleta, missed the suspended Wayne Rooney and could have no complaints about the result.
Dimitar Berbatov missed two giltedged chances to find the back of the net and Nani hit the bar with a free-kick - but their dreams of scooping the Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League are over.
As for City, they'll be back at Wembley on May 15 to face either Stoke or Bolton.
Mancini urged his stars to build on the win over United and end their 35-year trophy drought.
City will be hot favourites against Bolton or Stoke and Mancini said: "I'm very happy for our supporters. They deserve to have a day like this.
"We must not forget we play another game. Today we won only the semi-final but I am happy because we had fantastic spirit and beat a team like Man United.
"It's difficult against them. They're used to playing this type of game every year while for us it was the first after a long time.
"Maybe we had some fear in the first 20-25 minutes. In the last 10-15 minutes of the first half we started to play high, we started to press and we dominated the second half."
Italian striker Mario Balotelli was involved in some ugly exchanges with United players on the final whistle after celebrating in front of opposition fans
Mancini said: "I didn't see it. I want to wait as every time it's Balotelli's fault."
When the incident was described, Mancini added: "We can put him in jail? Next week we can put him in jail for this."
Unlike the Scottish equivalent at Hampden, the 80,000 stadium was jam-packed as the teams emerged.
City's fans turned their backs as United's line-up was read out but it would have been foolish to take your eyes off the action as it started at a frantic pace.
United should have been ahead after 15 minutes. A stunning one-touch move involving Carrick, Scholes and JiSung Park set up Berbatov eight yards out but the Bulgarian was denied by a point-blank stop from Joe Hart.
As they kept the ball alive, Antonio Valencia's cross found Berbatov again in the box but he somehow scooped his effort over the bar from close range.
Ferguson's side were in the ascendancy and Nemanja Vidic was next to threaten Hart's goal. He met Valencia's corner unmarked but steered his header wide.
City were struggling to make any sort of impact with Balotelli failing to link up with team-mates around him.
Their first chance came in 33 minutes when Balotelli flicked the ball into Gareth Barry's path but his left-foot snap shot hit Edwin van der Sar's side netting.
Balotelli then picked up the ball 35 yards out and the 20-year-old unleashed a terrific shot that forced the keeper to claw it over.
City wasted a golden chance to go in front from Adam Johnson's 37th-minute corner when Joleon Lescott should have done better with his back-post volley.
As the half wore on, Mancini's men looked the more likely to break the deadlock. Only a last-gasp Vidic tackle stopped Toure in his tracks and from the corner Vincent Kompany's curling shot went inches wide of van der Sar's post.
City started the second half on the front foot and United's sloppiness cost them the lead in 53 minutes.
Firstly, van der Sar's poor kick-out went straight to David Silva but when Rio Ferdinand won the ball back it looked like he'd averted the danger.
He played it to Carrick who carelessly gifted the ball to Toure and the big Ivorian made him pay as he drove into the United box and slotted the ball home to send the blue half of Wembley wild with delight.
It was a superb run and finish from the former Barcelona midfielder but England star Carrick could only hold his head in his hands knowing his cock-up had left his side with a mountain to climb. And it could have been 2-0 after 62 minutes.
United failed to react to Johnson's short corner and when the winger got it back from Silva he skinned Patrice Evra before forcing van der Sar into an awkward save at his near post. The Reds were under the cosh and Lescott squandered another chance for City when he headed wide.
United almost made them rue those misses just a minute later when Nani's deflected free-kick looked netbound before Hart touched it on to the bar.
But Ferguson's day went from bad to worse when Scholes was given a straight red card for a horrific, high tackle on Zabaleta which was reminiscent of Roy Keane's infamous challenge on Alfie Inge Haaland in this fixture.
United threw on Hernandez and Brazilian midfielder Anderson to try to salvage something but the Scholes sending-off made it an uphill battle.
Ferguson blamed the end of his side's treble dream on slack defending and Berbatov's misses.
He said: "The first 15 minutes after half time cost us. They were slack moments but we should have been ahead.
"There was a great save by the keeper for Dimitar's first but the second chance, from under the bar, if he'd scored there we would have won."