James Milner insists the hunger is greater than ever amongst the Aston Villa players to return to Wembley in the FA Cup as they look to bounce back from their Carling Cup final misery.

Milner admits it was hard to take being beaten by Manchester United after he had given Villa the lead from the penalty spot in a controversial incident where Nemanja Vidic escaped being sent off after holding back Gabriel Agbonlahor.

But there has been no time to wallow in self pity for Milner who featured as a substitute in England's midweek international win over Egypt at the same stadium.

Now he will be looking to help Martin O'Neill's side overcome giant-killers Reading, who have already knocked out Liverpool and Burnley, in Sunday's away quarter-final meeting.

Milner said: "I was massively disappointed. The disappointment is still there. The pain was as bad as when I was relegated with Leeds. It was on that same sort of level.

"But, with having a game on Wednesday, I had to refocus straight away and look forward to the next game (for England).

"If I had been back at the club, I would have had a full week to think about the final a lot more and would have been going over and over the game.

"But having another big game two days later, and being in a different environment with the England players, helped to refocus the mind."

Milner added: "Those experiences, like the one in last weekend's final, have to make you stronger as a footballer.

"We put in a good performance, made chances and could have at least taken the game into extra time with the chances we created.

"You really have to make sure you take the positives out of any situation. It is a big learning curves playing in major finals.

"We had great support on the day and it was disappointing not to win for ourselves, for the club and for them as well.

"But it has made us even more hungry - if that was possible - to get back to Wembley for the FA Cup final.

"You want to do as well you can in any cup competition but maybe there is an extra incentive now to go again and make it second time lucky.

"When you've tasted that sort of occasion as a loser, you want to taste it as a winner.

"We have some big games coming up, we're still challenging for fourth spot in the Premier League and an FA Cup final, and hopefully it can be a successful season."

Milner has had a hectic spell, having played for the England Under-21s in last summer's European Championships and being a virtual ever present for Villa this season.

But he dismisses any fears of burnout ahead of the World Cup finals providing he undergoes the right preparations in between matches.

He said: "We've played a lot of games but that is where the preparation and the recovery side come in. We get looked after very well.

"We know what to eat, when to eat, drinking the right recovery drinks, having massages, things like that.

"It is how you prepare and recover that makes that difference and, in any case, if you are playing more games, it means you are more successful.

"I am sure the players would rather be playing more games than less."

Villa boss Martin O'Neill will assess the fitness of his players following their return from international duty before naming his side.

But with Emile Heskey, Stephen Warnock and Stewart Downing not featuring for England should mean they are fresh to face the Royals.