Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund and goalkeeper Andre Onana have a good time on the finish of the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Coventry City and Manchester United at Wembley stadium in London, on April 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP
It was practically a comeback for the ages for Coventry. Instead, it led to one other gut-wrenching penalty shootout loss at Wembley for the second-tier staff as Manchester United limped into one other FA Cup closing.
Coventry pulled off some of the sudden fightbacks in FA Cup historical past by rallying from three targets down against United to drive additional time after a 3-3 attract Sunday’s semifinal recreation, solely to falter on the finish and let Erik ten Hag’s staff escape with a 4-2 win within the shootout.
“It hurts a lot, especially coming back from 3-0 down and having the potential to win in extra time,” Coventry striker Ellis Simms said. “To lose on penalties is gutting. … We were unlucky but it just wasn’t our day to get it.”
Rasmus Hojlund scored the decisive penalty kick to save United from another embarrassing collapse after Callum O’Hare and Ben Sheaf had missed their spot kicks for Coventry.
“It was an incredible game, a strange game too,” Ten Hag stated. “We had total control for so long and then gave it away in the last part of the game.”
It was one other heartbreaking ending at Wembley for Coventry, which additionally misplaced on penalties to Luton in final yr’s Championship playoff closing to overlook out on promotion to the Premier League.
United’s slender escape units up a second straight Manchester derby within the closing against defending champion Manchester City, which beat Chelsea on Saturday.
But it ought to by no means have been this shut.
United appeared to be cruising towards the ultimate after Bruno Fernades’ deflected shot put them 3-0 up within the 58th minute against a Championship facet that had defied the chances simply to make the semifinals.
But Coventry is not any stranger to comebacks, having scored twice in harm time to beat Wolverhampton within the quarterfinals, and staged a fair better one this time to set off wild celebrations within the sky-blue half of Wembley.
Simms gave Coventry a glimmer of hope by sweeping dwelling a cross from Fabio Tavares within the 71st, O’Hare netted the second with the assistance of a fortunate deflection within the 79th and Haji Wright equalized from the penalty spot within the fifth minute of harm time after a handball by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
United had taken the lead within the twenty third by means of Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire then headed within the second from a nook. That lead quickly appeared insurmountable after Fernandes’ shot took a deflection to sneak contained in the close to submit for United’s third.
But no lead appears secure for this United facet.
This was a second late collapse in a matter of weeks after United gave up two injury-time targets in a 4-3 Premier League loss to Chelsea this month, when Ten Hag referred to as on his staff to learn to shut out video games. They confirmed no indicators of getting discovered that lesson, and Coventry got here the closest to netting the winner in additional time against a shell-shocked United.
Simms first hit the crossbar with a stinging strike and Victor Torp then thought he had scored the winner within the a hundred and twentieth minute — setting off extra wild celebrations by the Coventry gamers and followers — nevertheless it was dominated out by VAR for a slender offside to arrange the penalty shootout.
“We were 20 seconds away and a toenail offside, it’s ridiculous,” stated Coventry supervisor Mark Robins, the previous Manchester United participant who scored a vital FA Cup aim in 1990 that helped Alex Ferguson win his first trophy on the membership. “Disappointed but we have to be really proud. Once the dust settles a lot of people will talk about that game for a long time.” Casemiro missed United’s first penalty by shooting straight at goalkeeper Bradley Collins but Andre Onana saved O’Hare’s spot kick before Sheaf sent his well over the crossbar.
The win gives United a chance to salvage what has been a disappointing season. United only has an outside chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season and an FA Cup trophy — at rival City’s expense — could be the only thing that will convince new minority owner Jim Ratcliffe to keep Ten Hag in charge for next season.
The 71-year-old Ratcliffe was in the stands after running the London Marathon earlier in the day. Watching the last hour of United’s performance may have been just as exhausting as the last part of that marathon.
United’s players hardly even celebrated when Hojlund’s decisive penalty went in, with only Christian Eriksen running over to celebrate with his fellow Dane. Most of the players remained by the halfway line, almost sheepishly shaking hands with the Coventry players — knowing how close they had come to one of the club’s most embarrassing defeats.
Ten Hag, though, insisted that fans should look on the bright side after reaching back-to-back FA Cup finals.
“It’s not an embarrassment,” Ten Hag stated. “It’s an achievement.”
