Patrice Evra's mind in the wake of United's Champions League semi-final victory over Arsenal

While declaring his relief at being eligible to play in the final himself, the Reds left-back was quick to console Darren Fletcher who's set to miss out after being sent off.

"The bad news of the night is Fletcher will miss the final and I feel so frustrated for him," said Evra, who had been one booking away from missing out on the Rome showpiece.

"The (possibility of a) yellow card was on my mind in the week leading up to the game, in the hotel before the match and during it. I thought about it a lot because I always believed we would reach the final and I wanted to be there.

"I, therefore, played with a lot of pain in my stomach [in the second leg] and I said to the boss that if we scored a third goal I wanted to come off, I just couldn't face the thought of missing the final.

"Of course, the most important thing was to help the team get there and I just tried to make sure I did my job well in order to do that. Maybe it was destiny that I should play in the final, but I knew the most important thing was to make sure we were there."

Evra was one of three players who would have missed the final had they been booked at the Emirates Stadium; Wayne Rooney also avoided a caution before he was substituted, while Carlos Tevez remained on the bench throughout the match.

Giggs

For a player and a team that achieves so much, finding new challenges can be difficult. But almost as soon as last year's final in Moscow had swung in United's favour, the Reds' sights were set on becoming the first side in 20 years to successfully defend the trophy.

"We said last year we wanted to defend it [the Champions League], give it a big shot and that's what we've done," Giggs told MUTV.

"The final is the biggest occasion you can be involved in and it's a great feeling to be there again. We've come out tonight and produced an unbelievable performance.

"We knew we'd get chances because this team creates them, it's just about putting them away. We did and that put the pressure right back on Arsenal, knowing they had to score three goals. That left gaps at the back for us to score more, and that's what happened."

United now have four games to seal the Barclays Premier League title before attentions can switch to Rome, and Giggs admits the players are relishing such high stakes.

"This is what we want," he said. "At this part of the season, we want to win big games.

"We've got another one on Sunday against City. We're in the final now and we can concentrate on the Premier League."

U18s

Nicky Ajose scored with a superb second-half shot to settle an entertaining game for Paul McGuinness' young team, having created goals in the first period for debutant Jesse Lingard and his strike partner Joshua King.

Lingard's goal came after just six minutes; receiving Ajose's measured pass into the area, the new boy wrongfooted two Blackburn players including the goalkeeper Swann before slotting the ball home.

Despite this early setback, Blackburn went on to dominate much of the first half and use the swirling winds to their advantage with some long-range shots testing United keeper Conor Devlin. One such effort from Banton in the 15th minute beat the young Irishman, only to strike the crossbar.

Rovers only had to wait a while longer for the first of their two equalisers, Banton slipping the ball into the box for Tom Hitchcock to finish with a low shot inside Devlin's left-hand post.

The scores stayed level at 1-1 until one minute before the break when Ajose raced to the right-wing byline and cut the ball back across the six-yard box for King to convert at the far post, albeit off the keeper who parried the shot but ultimately couldn't prevent it crossing the line.

If United's 2-1 lead was slightly against the run of play, then Rovers addressed this when Hitchcock grabbed his second goal shortly after half-time, stretching out a foot to poke Banton's left-wing cross beyond Devlin's dive.

The best goal was saved until last, Ajose firing in a stunning 25-yard shot midway through the second half to win the match 3-2 for the Reds and provide a memorable end to the season for some promising young players.

United: Devlin; Brown, Thorpe, Wootton, Fryers; Ajose, Brady, Cole, Gorman; Lingard, King. Subs: Morrison, Giverin, Keane, Barmby, Gorre.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager

We had a good start to the game and that makes a difference. Two quick goals knocked the wind out their sails. They are a young team and whatever level you are playing at you can't recover from that. From the club's point of view, I have said many times we should have won this competition more than we have: We have the quality. When the chips are down [this team] don't let me down. The third goal was great and the speed of the play was fantastic. Good players will always be judged on their performances, ability and belief but the good thing tonight was they played with each other; they all played their part. Ronaldo made the difference but if you looked back at the game, at the movement of Park and the running of Fletcher, you have to ask: 'Who was the Man of the Match?'

Is the gulf between United and Arsenal widening? I think we are at our strongest at the moment and Arsenal have one or two injury problems and that has been a key issue for them. We will look at Arsenal at the start of next season as one of our big threats. I know exactly how Arsène Wenger feels. When you work as hard as he has and have been there as long as he has been you deserve success. The problem for Arsène and myself is the longer you have been in the game the more labels you have attached to you. It is success or failure. If you win you are the greatest; if you don't you're useless. I don't think you have to win the European Cup to be a great manager, but unfortunately the media do.

I watched Barcelona on Saturday and they were absolutely fantastic – they could have scored ten, but they go to Chelsea without Carles Puyol and Rafael Márquez and that's a big problem for them. If you ask me who I want to play in the final, neither of them – I think we should have a bye!