Manchester United edged a 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.
Scott McTominay put Man United in front in the 10th minute of the game. Liverpool 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 halftime. First, in the 44th minute, Jarell Quansah went on a marauding run down the right before cutting back to Darwin Núñez who duly teed up Alexis MacAllister to find the bottom corner.
Liverpool weren’t done there and, in the second minute of stoppage time, Núñez’s shot was parried by André Onana and Salah took a touch and finished the rebound off the inside of the post to put Liverpool 2-1 ahead.
The Reds picked up where they left off after the break as Núñez ghosted past Raphaël 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 Núñez 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 Kellleher 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.
