Michael Owen suffered a hamstring injury in an action-packed first half of the Carling Cup final that also saw him score to level the match early on.

The former Liverpool star started the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on Sunday but had to be replaced just before half-time because of a hamstring injury, which manager Sir Alex Ferguson described as a 'blow'.

The Red Devils went onto to clinch the title 2-1 with Owen's replacement Wayne Rooney scoring the winner but manager Sir Alex Ferguson rued the injury to his striker who levelled in the 12th minute.

"He (Owen) did really well for us and it was a good performance from him. It's maybe our fault too. He's not had a lot of minutes recently and that soft pitch didn't help him. It's a bad blow for us," Ferguson said.