Man United rallies past Liverpool in FA Cup
Chelsea subs strike late to overcome Leicester • City into semis after beating Newcastle
MANCHESTER (Reuters) – Amad Diallo scored deep in extra time after Marcus Rashford made amends for a bad miss to lift Manchester United to a breathless 4-3 victory over north west rival Liverpool and into the FA Cup semifinals on Sunday.
United’s victory at Old Trafford kept alive its only hope of silverware this season and spoiled Liverpool’s dreams of hoisting four trophies in manager Jurgen Klopp’s final season with the team.
Scott McTominay gave United a 10th-minute lead, but Liverpool turned the game on its head with goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah before halftime.
Antony’s 87th-minute for United, however, sent the game into extra time when Harvey Elliott netted to cheers from Liverpool’s 9,000 travelling fans.
But 12-time FA Cup winner United – which is four places below Liverpool in the Premier League – kept its foot on the gas and Rashford, who had missed a sitter late in normal time made it 3-3 in the 112th minute.
Alejandro Garnacho and Diallo then found themselves on a breakaway with Diallo firing home the winner to a deafening roar from the Old Trafford faithful. He was then sent off after receiving a second yellow card for his celebrations.
Earlier Sunday, Chelsea substitutes Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke scored stoppage-time goals to earn a thrilling 4-2 home victory over battling second-tier side Leicester City on and a place in the FA Cup semifinals.
The match had everything needed for a classic cup tie, including end-to-end action, a missed penalty, a red card, a howler of an own goal and some sumptuous strikes.
Chelsea had looked in full control at halftime after goals from Marc Cucurella and Cole Palmer, though Raheem Sterling also had a somewhat feeble penalty saved by Jakub Stolarczyk’s legs.
However, a horrible mistake from Chelsea’s France defender Axel Disasi gifted Leicester a goal in the 51st minute when his pass back from distance flew straight into his own goal.
Ten minutes later Stephy Malvididi produced
a stunning individual goal, dribbling and sidestepping Malo Gusto before curling the ball into the top corner to put Leicester level.
In the 71st, Leicester’s Callum Doyle clipped Nicolas Jackson’s heel as the striker raced towards goal.
Referee Andy Madley signaled a penalty and a yellow card but after a VAR check he ruled that the foul had happened just outside the penalty area and changed the yellow to a red because Jackson had been clear on goal.
Chelsea besieged the Leicester area, producing a total of 26 shots to the Championship side’s five, but also missed a hatful of chances and were guilty of many misplaced passes.
But it was Mauricio Pochettino’s late substitutes who turned the match round.
With eight minutes added on, Chukwuemeka turned Cole’s expert back flick into the net and Madueke looped home a brilliant shot from distance to make it four just before the final whistle.
Chelsea, which lost the League Cup final to Liverpool last month, will be at Wembley again next month for its sixth FA Cup semifinal in eight years.
Leicester, which has led the Championship for several months, return to the pursuit
of promotion to the Premier League.
On Saturday, holder Manchester City cruised into the semifinals thanks to two deflected strikes from Bernardo Silva that gave it a 2-0 win over a lackluster Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium.
City made five changes from the side that started last weekend’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Liverpool and still managed to make the semifinals of the competition for the sixth season in a row as Newcastle provided little resistance.
City took the lead in the 13th minute when a Silva shot took a wicked deflection off Newcastle defender Dan Burn, wrong-footing keeper Martin Dubravka and sending the ball looping into the net.
The home side went 2-0 up in the 31st minute and again it was Portuguese playmaker Silva cutting in from the right and shooting, with Sven Botman’s head helping to steer the ball past Dubravka this time.
Alexander Isak almost pulled a goal back in the 36th minute but Stefan Ortega got down brilliantly to his left to keep the Swedish striker’s bouncing shot out. It proved to be Newcastle’s only effort on goal in the game.
For Newcastle, the defeat brings an end to any hope they had of winning silverware this season.
Spurs slump to defeat at Fulham
In Premier League action Fulham put a sizeable dent in Tottenham Hotspur’s top-four hopes as in-form Rodrigo Muniz’s double earned it an impressive 3-0 victory at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Tottenham could have moved above Aston Villa into fourth place in the standings with a victory, but apart from a brief spell before halftime were lackadaisical and could have few complaints.
Muniz broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute and scored again just past the hour mark to finish off Tottenham after Sasa Lukic had doubled Fulham’s lead shortly after the interval.
It completed a notable home double for Fulham over Tottenham having also knocked it out of the League Cup.
Tottenham remains in fifth place with 53 points from 28 games while Fulham are in 12th spot with 38 points from 29 games.
Also, Jacob Bruun Larsen and David Datro Fofana scored either side of halftime to give relegation-threatened Burnley a 2-1 victory over 10-man Brentford, only its fourth Premier League win this season.
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley is 19th in the table and eight points adrift of safety, while Brentford are four points above the drop zone in 15th.
Luton Town held Nottingham Forest to a 1-1 draw as a late strike from Luke Berry canceled out Chris Wood’s first-half goal.
Wood, who scored a double against Luton in October’s 2-2 draw, found the net from close range in the 34th minute when he met Morgan Gibbs-White’s lobbed cross with a volley.
But Ross Barkley’s corner in the 89th minute was headed down in the box by Reece Burke for Berry to score, securing the draw for Luton.
Forest remained 17th in the standings with 25 points from 29 matches. Luton, 18th, is three points behind.
On Sunday, West Ham United had three goals ruled out, including what would have been a dramatic stoppage-time winner, as Aston Villa came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw in a fiery Premiership clash.
Michail Antonio’s stooping header, his first goal since August, gave the hosts the lead after 29 minutes. West Ham had the ball in the net twice through Mohammed Kudus and Antonio either side of halftime, but neither goal stood.