Manchester,
Sunday, 17 March, 2024
Manchester United edged an FA Cup quarter-final tie for the ages following a 4-3 victory in extra-time thanks to Amad Diallo’s 121st-minute winning goal. Victory sends the Red Devils into the final four at Wembley as their pursuit for a trophy continues, whilst also ending Liverpool’s quadruple chase.
It was a frantic start in a crackling atmosphere at Old Trafford and, after less than five minutes Caoimhin Kelleher was called into action with a diving save to deny Alejandro Garnacho while Mohammed Salah flashed a bicycle kick volley wide at the back post at the other end.
On 10 minutes, Marcus Rashford slid in Garnacho who forced another save from Kelleher, but this time the Irish stopper could only parry to Scott McTominay and the Scottish international nodded in from four yards.
The game settled after this but the visitors thought they had a leveller when Wataru Endo steered Salah’s cutback neatly into the bottom corner but VAR confirmed the linesman’s offside call.
Just when United thought they had made it to half-time ahead, the game flipped on its head on the stroke of HT. First, on 44 minutes, Jarell Quansah went on a marauding run down the right before cutting back to Darwin Nunez who duly teed up Alexis MacAllister to find the bottom corner.
Liverpool weren’t done there and, in the second minute of stoppage time, Nunez’s shot was parried by Andre Onana and Salah took a touch and finished the rebound off the inside of the post.
Liverpool picked up where they left off after the restart as Nunez ghosted past Raphael Varane and almost caught out Onana at his near post but the Red Devils keeper made a good stop.
The game descended into an end-to-end game of basketball with the home fans adamant that Andy Robertson had handled in the box while Nunez stung Onana’s palms again after giving Varane more trouble.
Manchester United huffed and puffed as the game went on and with three minutes of normal time to go, Antony twisted and turned in the box and, despite being surrounded by white and green shirts, the Brazilian got a shot away that squeaked past Kelleher to raise the roof at Old Trafford and force extra time.
The end-to-end nature continued in extra time and in the 105th minute, Elliott’s deflected effort found its way into the bottom corner. However, a breathless game wasn’t finished yet as Rashford redeemed himself with a clinical finish to level.
Just when you thought there was no more drama and penalties were coming, United broke away from a Liverpool corner in the 121st minute and Garnacho unselfishly played in Diallo who rolled it into the far corner to cue bedlam at Old Trafford. Despite being sent off for celebrating his winner, it mattered not as United held on to secure a stunning cup tie victory.
