Tevez double downs United

Carlos Tevez scored twice against his old club as Manchester City came from behind to take a narrow 2-1 advantage into next week's Carling Cup semi-final second leg.

Manchester United led through Ryan Giggs' 17th-minute tap-in but City drew level after Rafael hauled back Craig Bellamy inside the box.

Tevez gleefully rammed home the penalty, then turned home Vincent Kompany's cross from close range after the interval, each celebration twisting the knife on Sir Alex Ferguson and Gary Neville, who only this week backed his manager's decision to let the South American leave Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney had already been denied from close range once when he got on the end of Patrice Evra's shot, only for rookie defender Dedryck Boyata to make the block.

So when a similar effort from the England star was turned away by Shay Given after Antonio Valencia had skipped past his marker, it was a first victory for the Irishman in what turned into a personal duel but the rebound rolled into the path of Giggs and from three yards Giggs could not miss.

Tevez wasted a glorious chance when Shaun Wright-Phillips picked him out with a superb curling cross, then Micah Richards thudded a headed into Boyata's back after Bellamy had been the provider.

In the end, City needed a controversial penalty to get their equaliser. Controversial in the sense Rafael was outside the area when he began an extended tug of Bellamy's shirt.

For all the understandable focus on Tevez, the most influential man on the pitch was Given, who turned away yet another point-blank effort when Giggs got his head to Rooney's deep cross.

The worth of that save did not become apparent until City's next attack when Vincent Kompany hooked a wayward Pablo Zabaleta's shot straight onto Tevez's head.

As he scored and Eastlands erupted, the striker this time immediately raced to the home dug-out and cupped his ears, in exactly the same manner he did when he scored for United in a Premier League meeting between these two sides late last season, when the Old Trafford crowd's demand for him to stay was at its peak.