It will go down as one of the most memorable Carling Cup semi-finals in history.
Blackburn Rovers, 1-0 down from the first leg jumped out to a 2-0 advantage on aggregate through two goals from Nikola Kalinic.
But Villa got back on level terms when former Blackburn defender Stephen Warnock scored and then Blackburn defender Christopher Samba was sent off for bringing down Gabriel Agbonlahor inside the box. James Milner scored from the subsequent spot kick to make it 3-2 Villa on aggregate.
Villa looked to have put the game away when they scored three more times in the 17 minutes of the second half through Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and an own goal from Steven Nzonzi.
But credit to Blackburn, they were not done and two goals from Martin Olsson and Brett Emerton made it 6-4 on aggregate before Ashley Young sealed the game for Villa.
Algeria clawed back from the brink of elimination to stun title favourites Ivory Coast 3-2 on Sunday and reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals.
The winners fell 2-1 behind on 89 minutes to a brilliant Abdulkader Keita goal only for Madjid Bougherra to level in stoppage time and unmarked substitute Hamer Bouazza headed a 92nd-minute far-post winner.
Drama continued to the end with television replays suggesting a late shot from Ivorian defender Kolo Toure that found the net was wrongly judged offside by an assistant referee.
Ivory Coast coach Vahid Halilhodzic was furious and distraught in equal measure.
“This is a huge disappointment, of course,” said the 57-year-old Bosnian-born former Yugoslavian international.
“We were not good this evening (Sunday) and we are obliged to congratulate Algeria.
His Algerian counterpart Rabah Saadane had evidently vastly different emotions.
“I am really happy. We came up with what we wanted,” said Saadane.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini admits he won’t stop Robinho leaving if the Brazil forward is not happy at Eastlands.
Robinho told a Brazilian radio station over the weekend that City’s directors are happy to let him return home to join Santos on loan before the transfer window closes on February 1.
After watching Robinho score City’s final goal in their 4-2 FA Cup fourth round win at Scunthorpe on Sunday, Mancini denied any knowledge of an imminent exit for the former Real Madrid star but did concede that he would let him leave if he isn’t happy.
Robinho, who cost City a club record 32.5 million pounds last season, has repeatedly produced below-par displays and Mancini appeared to run out of patience when he replaced the winger after sending him on as substitute against Everton earlier this month.
