There is always one more floor in Manchester United’s basement of failures. Coventry City, in one of the greatest feats in memory in the competition, drew 0-3 in twenty minutes, had a crossbar and a goal disallowed to qualify for the FA Cup final and only lost in the penalty shootout. against the once all-powerful United.
The ‘Red Devils’ were close to historic embarrassment and were only saved by the woodwork, the VAR, which detected an offside in what would have been 4-3 in extra time, and a penalty shootout in which two rulings condemned the ‘Sky Blues’, who left with their heads held high, more than United, from Wembley.
Last year’s final will be repeated, when Manchester City won 2-1 against the ‘Red Devils’ to take the penultimate step towards the historic treble for Pep Guardiola’s team.
The most optimistic were confident that Coventry City, a team that was one game away from ascending to the Premier League last season, could surprise and get into the final as a total Cinderella of the tournament, but the fairy tale seemed to last. bit.
They left Wembley exhausted and United made them pay. After a couple of opportunities, for Alejandro Garnacho and Rashford, both very clear; McTominay made it 0-1, appearing as a center forward to push into the net a delivery from Diogo Dalot that slipped between two Coventry players.
The goal took a lot of pressure off United, who did not back down and sought to kill the match. He achieved it after Collins, the Coventry City goalkeeper, made a brutal save on Rashford and the ball went for a corner. In the corner kick, Harry Maguire headed Bruno Fernandes’ delivery completely alone and put to sleep a match that had more traps on the horizon for the confident United.
To almost clear up any doubt, this United team was already tied 0-2 against Newport not so long ago in the FA Cup, Fernandes scored the third with half an hour remaining. His shot, in a commotion in the area, hit the leg of a ‘Sky Blues’ defender and confused Collins, who could do little.
And there began the story and what could have been one of the greatest feats of the competition. The 34,000 Coventry City fans were satisfied with Ellis Simms’ goal in the 71st minute, which allowed them to dream of an almost impossible comeback, but which began to take shape when Callum O’Hare tried his luck from outside the area and his shot hit on the back of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and meekly slipped into Onana’s goal.
Terror at Manchester United, for whom the six added minutes were a world of trouble and ended as these stories have to end when Erik Ten Hag’s team is involved. Wan-Bissaka, to complete a glorious second half, took his hand out for a walk and cut in a cross with it.
The referee took a few seconds to make Coventry City nervous, but gave a penalty that Haji Wright converted and leveled the semi-finals in the 95th minute that were 0-3 in the 70th minute.
The extra time, far from being a parade, brought with it a shot against the crossbar by Bruno Fernandes, a reply to Simms’ woodwork and the maximum drama, a goal disallowed for Torp in the last second that left the ‘Red Devils’ surrendered in The grass. They were lifted by the VAR, which saw an offside at the beginning of the play and cut off the ‘Sky Blues’ celebration to send the semi-finals to penalties.
In the shootout, Casemiro missed the first, with a weak shot to the center like Bernardo Silva. It was followed by success from Wright and Torp for Coventry City and goals from Dalot and Eriksen to keep United alive.
The advantage ended there. O’Hare, scorer of a goal in the game, ran into Onana, Bruno made no mistake and captain Sheaf threw his shot into the clouds. Rasmus Hojlund did not forgive the last shot and returned United to the FA Cup final. There they will face their neighbors City, who already beat them last year.
Coventry City: Collins; Latibeaudiere (Tavares, m.63 (Godden, m.106)), Thomas, Kitching (Binks, m.63), Bidwell (Dasilva, m.80); Sheaf, Eccles (Torp, m.63), O’Hare; Van Ewijk, Wright y Simms.
Manchester United: Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Casemiro, Dalot; Mainoo (Eriksen, m.72), McTominay (Forson, m.103), Fernandes; Grenache (Antony, m.66), Rashford (Diallo, m.97) and Hojlund.
Goals: 0-1 McTominay, m.23, 0-2. Maguire, m.45 1, 0-3. Fernandes, m.58, 1-3. Simms, m.71, 2-3. O’Hare, m.79 and 3-3. Wright, m.95.
Referee: Robert Jones cautioned Thomas (m.82) and Dasilva (m.111) for Coventry City and Onana (m.86) for Manchester United.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the FA Cup semi-final played at Wembley Stadium (London).
