FA Cup quarter-final: Manchester United 4 Liverpool 3 (aet)
At the beginning of last season, Erik Ten Hag oversaw a 2-1 Premier League victory for Manchester United over Liverpool at Old Trafford to ignite his managerial tenure. Nobody had seen it coming after defeats in his opening two matches. It was like a fairytale.
It has soured somewhat this season, the difficulties piling up, but now this – another victory here against Liverpool that few had predicted. And, in the heat of the moment at a delirious Old Trafford, as the club looked ahead to an FA Cup semi-final against Mark Robins’s Coventry, it felt like the result which could save Ten Hag.
Where to start? Probably at the very end, with stoppage-time in extra-time being played and the substitute Amad Diallo, running on to a pass from the indefatigable Alejandro Garnacho on the counter. He couldn’t, could he? Amad could, guiding a low finish into the far corner and, at that point, it was finally over.
There were further details, of course. Amad ripped off his shirt to collect a second yellow card but nobody seemed to care. Not Amad, who headed down the tunnel to tremendous acclaim.
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United had looked finished towards the 90-minute mark, trailing 2-1, Liverpool the dominant team in the second half of normal time only for Antony, of all people, who had entered as a substitute to force extra-time with only his second goal of the season.
The additional period would not have been needed if Marcus Rashford had not blown a gilt-edged opportunity at the very end of normal time but, after the Liverpool substitute Harvey Elliott had made it 3-2 in the 105th minute, United came back again.
It was Rashford who equalised in the second-period of extra-time, finishing coolly after Amad had won the ball and Scott McTominay had played the final pass. With penalties looming, the scene was set for Amad.
The result was a sickener for Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool, killing Liverpool’s dream of winning four trophies in their manager’s final season but it teemed with significance for Ten Hag. United look unlikely to secure a Champions League finish via Premier League position (although on this evidence, who knows?) but their season lives to fight another day. Ten Hag intends to do likewise when it is over.
United had meant business at the outset. There was personality from them, symbolised by Kobbie Mainoo demanding the ball, showing composure and drive on it. There was intensity. And there was an early goal, the most tangible of all the markers.
The move was fired by Bruno Fernandes sending a quick free-kick up to Rashford; United’s idea was to turn Liverpool around, to force them back. But the chance was really there on the second phase when Garnacho made a smart run over and up the inside left and Rashford found him. Garnacho cut on to his right foot and unloaded, Caoimhín Kelleher parried the ball up and not away and McTominay had a tap-in.
It capped a frenzied opening in which both teams had openings. United’s best one was created for Rashford, who worked Kelleher with a curler. Liverpool’s followed a wonderful Darwin Núñez cross from the right, over Diogo Dalot for Mohamed Salah, who volleyed just past the far post.
Shortly after the McTominay opener, Andy Robertson had to leap into a block to deny Garnacho and there were other moments when United advertised a goal for 2-0. Liverpool, though, bristled with menace, they are never out of a game these days and they would land a devastating one-two punch at the end of the first-half.
Klopp’s team thought they had equalised in the 37th minute when Salah teed up Wataru Endo for a low finish; Salah was ruled to have been fractionally offside. But Liverpool got a break when Núñez laid off for Alexis Mac Allister, whose shot deflected off Mainoo to deceive André Onana. Jarell Quansah had started the move with a striding run away from Fernandes and then Rashford; both United players had to do more defensively.
Liverpool were in front when Fernandes was robbed by Joe Gomez on the right as Liverpool brought the press; the United captain wanted a foul but it was not there. He would be booked for dissent. United were stretched when Gomez crossed and Victor Lindelöf’s clearing header only reached Luis Díaz, who found Núñez. He cut inside and shot, Onana parried and Salah had a simple finish for his 13th in 14 matches against United.
Ten Hag’s team had to move on from their regrets, even if it was not easy. McTominay had missed a relatively easy throughball for Rashford and Rasmus Højlund slipped when well-placed. But the big chance was for McTominay, set up by a piece of twinkle-toed brilliance by Mainoo. McTominay shot straight at Kelleher. Liverpool could also count chances at 1-0 for Díaz and Dominik Szoboszlai. It was breathless stuff.
Ten Hag had been boosted by the availability after injury of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Højlund; the manager started the former at left-back against Salah. Wan-Bissaka did well defensively.
It was raucous from the first whistle, 9,000 Liverpool fans playing their part – the club’s highest allocation here of the modern era. It was easy to feel that United’s chance had gone as Liverpool took control upon the second-half restart. Apart from one Fernandes cross that almost found Højlund, it was Liverpool who hogged the ball and took the sting out of the tie. They created chances, too.
Núñez was a menace for Lindelöf and Raphaël Varane. The Liverpool centre-forward almost caught out Onana at the near post, he flashed another effort past the other upright and worked the goalkeeper after dropping his shoulder and beating Varane. Onana also had to save from Szoboszlai.
United’s starting players looked out on their feet in the closing stages of normal time, especially when Liverpool broke with five against two; somehow they survived. And yet they found an extra gear.
You would have got long odds on Antony making the difference. And with his right foot – a sentence that almost needs an exclamation mark. But the winger showed excellent touch in heavy traffic inside the area on 87 minutes, taking a touch after a Garnacho incision, spinning and caressing low into the corner.
There was more to come. Much more. Elliott, on as a substitute, looped a cross against the far post but Liverpool were rattled and they were almost unhinged by the last kick of normal time. With United going for broke in a 3-2-4-1 formation, another substitute, Christian Eriksen, dropped the perfect ball over the top for Rashford and his first touch was true. The less said about the second, the better. Rashford pushed his shot past the far corner before crumpling to the ground, head first. Every United fan has his or her head in their hands.
United dominated the first half of extra-time, Antony looking dangerous and even the substitute Harry Maguire having a half-chance when the ball dropped on to his left foot for a half-volley. That would have been too much. Lindelöf also lashed a shot high into the side-netting. All of which made Elliott’s goal the dictionary definition of a sucker punch. Onana looked to have the midfielder’s shot covered before it took a deflection off Eriksen to beat him.
Again, United revived. By now it had become a classic, both sets of fans shouting themselves hoarse. When Ten Hag introduced Mason Mount for Lindelöf, he had only two recognised defenders on the pitch. It was hard to classify his formation. Maguire shot straight at Kelleher and, at that point, it was shaping up as a hard luck story for United. Rashford and Amad had other ideas. – Guardian
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