Mourinho, 42 on Wednesday, beamed with pride after Damien Duff's fortunate 85th-minute winner at Old Trafford set up a date with Liverpool in the League Cup final in Cardiff on February 27.

"It's a perfect birthday," Mourinho told reporters. "The feeling is fantastic. It's great to be in the final.

"Everybody in our group was talking about it being my birthday gift but it's not my birthday gift, it's a gift for every player, the supporters and it's a gift for (Chelsea's Russian billionaire owner) Roman (Abramovich).

"He has given a lot to the club and this is the first time he's got the real good feeling of being in a final. So I prefer to share with all of them. It's a great feeling."

Mourinho revealed that Abramovich might have a dry-cleaning bill to address after venturing into the Chelsea dressing room after the game to join in the post-match celebrations.

"He is very happy but I think he shouldn't go into the dressing room again because he went in there and was showered with champagne," Mourinho grinned. "Next time he should think twice."

United manager Alex Ferguson was left to stomach the first domestic semi-final defeat of his 18-year reign at Old Trafford - it was also the club's first such defeat since 1975.

"I don't enjoy it. I'm a bit disappointed with that," the Scot told television reporters.

SOFT GOAL

Ferguson was upset that none of his defenders attacked Duff's tantalising free kick, which eluded everybody and bounced into the top corner of the goal.

"It was a bit soft. They scored with a free kick from about 50 yards out so I'm not happy about that," he added. "You can't win games if you concede goals like that."

He also complained that United had two first-half penalty appeals turned down.

"I'm fed up with talking about penalties being turned down," Ferguson said. "In the first leg we should have had a penalty kick and tonight we should have had a penalty kick.

"But we played exceptionally well in the second half. It was a great game. We went for it. I thought we had by far the bigger momentum in the second half and played some great football."

Ferguson at least had something with which to drown his sorrows.

Mourinho said that, as promised, he had left the United boss a bottle of fine Portuguese wine, reportedly worth over 250 pounds ($470), to enjoy after the game.

Given the nature of the loss, Ferguson might have preferred something a little stronger.