March 18 – Manchester United have been handed a dream FA Cup semi-final draw after beating Liverpool 4-3 in an Old Trafford thriller, and could face rivals Manchester City in the final for the second year running.
The FA Cup semi-finals will see Manchester United face Coventry City, while reigning champions Man City will take on Chelsea,
Manchester United’s late victory over arch-rivals Liverpool was perhaps the crown jewel if the weekend fixtures and an excellent advertisement for the magic of the FA Cup.
The match headed into extra time with the score at 2-2, after out-of-favour Man Utd forward Antony netting in the 87th minute to level the tie and stoke the fires of the Old Trafford crowd.
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliot scored a long-range effort in the 105th minute, which was quickly undone by Marcus Rashford at the other end after a mistake from Darwin Nunez. With seconds left to play, Liverpool committed everyone for one last corner. Disastrously, Elliot gave the ball away on the edge of the United box, allowing Red Devils substitute Amad Diallo to attack a virtually empty pitch and score the winner.
After taking his shirt off in the celebrations, the Ivorian was given a second yellow card and forced to make an early exit from the match, but had done enough to put his side in the FA Cup Semi finals.
Elsewhere in the cup, Coventry left it late versus midlands rivals Wolves, scoring twice in added time to win 3-2 and keep their fairytale cup run going. Wolves thought they had won it with a late strike from Hugo Bueno. Strike duo Ellis Simms and Haji Wright netted in the 97th and 100th minute for Coventry.
Capping off the weekend, Chelsea scraped past Leicester thanks to two added-time goals from Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke.
Axel Disasi’s spectacular 40-yard own-goal undid Marc Cucurella’s early opener for Chelsea, but Cole Palmer gave his side the lead entering the half.
Leicester equalised through Stephy Mavididi in the 62nd minute, before Callum Doyle picked up a red card that would change the flow of the match. With the final score at 4-2, Chelsea’s expensively-assembled squad were well-matched by their midlands visitors, who will hope their encouraging display can kickstart their Championship title push once again.
Elsewhere, Manchester City returned to their old ways, dominating a Newcastle United side that still look a far cry from the high-flying squad of last season. The final score settled at 2-0, with the Cityzens tallying 73% possession.
They will meet Chelsea in the semi-finals.
Man City beat Man Utd 2-1 in the 2023 FA Cup Final.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1732369617labto1732369617ofdlr1732369617owedi1732369617sni@g1732369617niwe.1732369617yrrah1732369617