Yaya Toure scored the winner in the 52nd minute at Wembley to dash Manchester United's hopes of the treble.

It means City are now one step away from winning their first major trophy in 35 years, not to mention being in sight of a place in the Champions League.

The last time they lifted silverware was in 1976 when the League Cup was brought back to their old Maine Road ground.

Barry, 30, said: "It is a massive moment for the club to reach the final. It has been a long wait.

"So it is important now that we win it. The next game is going to be just as tough, with the pressure maybe more on us.

"It is about winning that first trophy. It was mentioned at the beginning of the season.

"If we can win that trophy, then maybe more will follow. The first one is always the most difficult one."

Barry insists the result proves the players are united despite various training ground bust-ups.

"There were a few great individual performances but it was the perfect team performance, " he said.

"We all stuck together, as you have to do to beat Manchester United. Hopefully that will show we are together as a group.

"Maybe we did show United a bit too much respect initially. They played their typical way, dominated the game, but as the match went on we grew in confidence.

"We created a couple of chances at the end of the first half and took that momentum into the second half. As the match went on, we grew."

Barry refused to be drawn on recent comments by Joey Barton in which the Newcastle midfielder ridiculed him as "a teacher's pet".

He said: "You approach every game trying to do your best. I always do. If you get criticism, you get criticism.

"That's the game. You try and respond to it. I always give 100%. If it's good enough, you get selected again. If it's not... I don't really want to speak about another professional, positive or negative."

United were reduced to 10 men in the 72nd minute when veteran midfielder Paul Scholes was sent off for a lunge at Pablo Zabaleta.

Barry admitted the former England international's dismissal gave them a lift.

"It helped helped us massively, maybe the end of the second half would have been different otherwise, " he said. "But we ended the game strongly and professionally. We saw it out.

"They had a couple of half-chances but to keep United out with a clean sheet is a great achievement. We've seen how many times over the years they've scored late on."