Manchester United have secured a semifinal spot in the English FA Cup after coming from behind to beat Liverpool 4-3 in the semi-finals of the thriller.
The remaining sides in the competition are Coventry City, which secured a turnaround win against Premier League side Wolves; defending champions Manchester City; and Chelsea, which secured a late win earlier in the day against Championship leaders Leicester City.
This season’s semi-finals are scheduled for Wembley on Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21. The winner of the competition will pick up £1m from the competition prize fund while £500,000 goes to the runners-up.
In a game that was heading for the spot kick, Amad Diallo at the 120th minute scored the winner and got sent off. The winger who was already on a yellow card pulled of his shirt to celebrate the goal and got his second yellow card that got him the matching order.
Manchester united punished a sloppy Liverpool play after the visitors messed their corner. Diallo won the ball 25 yards from his own goal, and began a counter attack that teed up Alejandro Garnacho. As the attacker charged up field, he returned the pass back for Diallo to score the winner.
The hosts needed just ten minutes to open the goal chart though Scott McTominay. They got the lead in the breathless start as Marcus Rashford slid a pass on the left side of the penalty area to Garnacho, whose shot Caoimhin Kelleher parried to the path of McTominay a few yards out to put away the rebound.
After the VAR had cancelled their initial goal, Liverpool restored parity before half time through Alexis Mac Allister. Jarell Quansah was heavily involved in the build-up, as Darwin Nunez with his back to goal set it up for Mac Allister and the Argentina World Cup winner’s shot took a deflection off the boot of Kobbie Mainoo, leaving Andre Onana beaten.
Liverpool then turned around the tie three minutes later through Mo Salah. Nunez was heavily involved this time as the striker created space for shot at goal. Although Onana made an acrobatic one-handed save but it fell for Salah who took one touch to control it and then lashed it into the net.
While it was looking likely that the Reds would coast to victory, the Red Devils got an equalizer through Anthony in the 87th minute. The Brazilian winger got into the penalty area and was able to spin and shoot low past Kelleher despite being under pressure.
Liverpool again went ahead in the first half of the extra time as Harvey Elliott’s 25 yards strike clipped the foot of Christian Eriksen, causing a big deflection that eroded Onana.
But the Carabao cup winners failed to hold on to the lead again as United restored parity through Marcus Rashford seven minutes away from the 120th. McTominay set up the goal as he ran at the Liverpool defence, slid it to Rashford and the England striker calmly slotted it into the bottom corner.
The neutrals were looking forward to the penalty until Diallo struck, taking United to Wembley.
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