DIALLO DELIVERS DAGGER
FA CUP: UNITED BEAT LIVERPOOL IN A CLASSIC MATCH AT OLD TRAFFORD Red Devils to play Coventry in the semis, while Man City book a meeting with Chelsea.
Manchester United ended Liverpool’s quest for a quadruple of trophies in Juergen Klopp’s final season after Amad Diallo’s winner edged a thrilling FA Cup quarterfinal 4-3 after extra-time.
The Ivorian winger was sent off for a second booking after taking his shirt off in celebration at the end of a chaotic 120 minutes that kept United’s chances of ending the season with silverware alive.
Erik ten Hag’s men will be confident of reaching the final for a second consecutive season after being paired with Championship side Coventry in the last-four, while Manchester City face Chelsea.
Two goals in three minutes from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah towards the end of the first-half had swung the game in Liverpool’s favour after Scott McTominay opened the scoring.
Antony’s first goal at Old Trafford for more than a year kept United alive to send the game into extra-time.
Liverpool edged in front once again when Harvey Elliott’s deflected shot found the bottom corner.
But Marcus Rashford, who had missed a glorious chance to win the tie deep into injury time, made amends by drilling home to make it 3-3.
Diallo then scored just his second ever United goal in added time of extra-time at the end of a breakneck counter-attack from a Liverpool corner, led by the impressive Alejandro Garnacho.
“When it’s Manchester United against Liverpool, it’s one of the world’s best football matches. It is historical. The team showed resilience and determination to win this game,” said Ten Hag.
“We’ve had so many setbacks. We are very strong mentally. We energised the fans, they got behind us and we won.”
United trail Liverpool by 17 points in the Premier League and with early exits from both the Champions League and League Cup, the pressure was on Ten Hag.
Liverpool have had a far more intense schedule in recent weeks than United as they remain in three competitions, having already lifted the League Cup.
“That was the first time I saw my team really struggling. That’s how it is, we played a lot of football recently. Congratulations to United, they fought extremely hard as well,” said Klopp.
A frenetic encounter continued to rage from end-to-end in extra-time and it was United who eventually didn’t lie down. –