Things are looking Cup for United and Chelsea
Under-pressure giants through to FA Cup quarterfinals as Red Devils set up mouthwatering Liverpool showdown
Manchester United and Chelsea kept alive their hopes of silverware this season by scoring late winners in the FA Cup on Wednesday.
Liverpool also advanced to the quarterfinals, with its youngsters coming through big again for Jurgen Klopp.
Casemiro stooped to head in an 89th-minute goal to seal a 1-0 United win at Nottingham Forest and a last-eight meeting with old rival Liverpool, whose youthful team beat second-tier Southampton 3-0 thanks to goals by 18-year-olds Lewis Koumas and Jayden Danns.
Chelsea — fresh off a loss to Liverpool in the English League Cup final — left it even later than United to secure its progress, with Conor Gallagher coming off the bench to score in the 90th minute for a 3-2 victory over Leeds United. Chelsea will play another second-tier team, Leicester City, in the last eight.
Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 in an allPremier League matchup and will be at home to Championship team Coventry City in the quarterfinals.
Salvaging their season
Winning the FA Cup could salvage disappointing seasons for United and Chelsea, and could also keep their under-pressure managers in their jobs.
Neither team put in a convincing display in the fifth round, but they are still alive in the famous old competition and have home draws to look forward to after late winners from midfielders.
Casemiro got between two defenders and stuck out his head to divert a low freekick that had been whipped in from the left wing by Bruno Fernandes. The Brazil international got a kick in the face for his efforts — blood was seen pouring down his cheek afterward — but, more importantly, a crucial goal.
After a morale-sapping loss to Fulham in the league on Saturday, another defeat would have left United in a mess heading into Sunday’s Manchester derby against City. Instead, United manager Erik ten Hag was quick to point out that his team has now won seven of its nine games in all competitions in 2024.
“This team, what they showed today, they have to show it every game,” Ten Hag said. “We found a way to win.”
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has come under renewed pressure in the wake of his expensively assembled team’s loss in the League Cup final. Now he is one game away from a return to Wembley Stadium, this time for the FA Cup semifinals.
Gallagher ran onto Enzo Fernandez’s pass, gave his marker the spin and converted a rising shot to put out a spirited effort from a Leeds team whose priority this season is securing an immediate return to the Premier League.
Despite fielding a weakened starting team, Leeds took the lead in the eighth minute at Stamford Bridge through Mateo Joseph, who also equalized to make it 2-2 after goals for Chelsea by Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk.
“This type of performance shows that we are brave and we can win games. We know who we are,” the Argentine told reporters after conceding his side’s showing against second-tier Leeds — who took an early lead — “was not a great performance”.
Pochettino dismissed criticism by former Manchester United player Gary Neville, now a television pundit, who slammed Chelsea as “billion-pound bottle jobs” after the 1-0 League Cup final loss to Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.
“If people want to run and run and run with this comment, for us it is not important,” he said. “It’s an opinion and that’s it and we move on.”
The west London side is struggling in mid-table in the Premier League and the FA Cup represents its last realistic chance of silverware.
Klopp’s kids
Jurgen Klopp’s kids have done again.
Amid an injury crisis, the Liverpool manager turned to a bunch of academy products to help beat Chelsea it in the League Cup final and he kept faith in them for the match against Southampton three days later at Anfield.
The average age of Liverpool’s team on Wednesday was 23 years, 128 days after Klopp made six changes to the lineup, including giving a debut to Koumas and starting 19-year-old midfielders James McConnell and Bobby Clark after their starring roles off the bench at Wembley. There were six players aged 21 or younger in the team.
Koumas squeezed home a shot in the 44th minute to mark the biggest game of his fledging professional career and make it 1-0. Danns came off the bench, like he did in the League Cup final, and scored in the 73rd and 88th minutes for his first senior goals.
“I couldn’t be happier today. Today is the best day of my life,” Danns said. “I’ve watched Liverpool since I was a young boy and to score at the Kop End is more than a dream. I couldn’t be happier.”
Liverpool, which leads the Premier League and is into the round of 16 in the Europa League, stayed on course for a quadruple of trophies in Klopp’s final season.
“It was an incredible game. It was so intense and they ran themselves into the ground, we needed to find a way and we did that,” Klopp told ITV. “The whole situation is horribly difficult,” he added about the team’s injuries. “Any positive mood around the changing room and training room, we accept we’re in a difficult moment and try and find solutions. It’s great to be in the quarterfinals and we don’t take these things for granted.”