Cavani’s late show sets up a derby clash
BUT SHOULD HE HAVE BEEN ON THE PITCH?
THIS was a superb performance from Edinson Cavani, including a fantastic deciding goal that set up a Carabao Cup semi-final with Manchester City.
The only problem was that his display could have been brought to a premature end after 50 minutes when the Manchester United forward appeared to take hold of Yerry Mina’s throat and shove his opponent to the ground.
With VAR not in use for the competition and referee Andrew Madley oblivious to the incident, Cavani remained the best player on the field.
So when he took a pass from Anthony Martial with two minutes of normal time left, ran at the Everton back four and curled a powerful shot into the far corner of the net, nobody should have been surprised.
Martial scored himself with the final kick of the night to secure United’s place in the last four but Cavani had made the crucial contribution.
United skipper Harry Maguire said :‘ It was an excellent performance and we should have been out of sight, we had three or four great chances. We need to be more clinical.
‘Edinson’s finish was excellent on his weak foot, too. He’s had an injury but it’s good to have him back.
‘We are expected to win trophies. It’s important to reach these big games but we have to start winning them and lift some trophies for this club.’
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United deserved victory, too. They were brilliant for the first half an hour and could have won the game in that time. Only Everton keeper Robin Olsen stood between them and several goals during that spell.
Everton improved and a penalty shoot- out looked set to follow after 90 minutes. But United had Martial and Marcus Rashford on as fresh subs for the final passages of play and that made a difference, too.
Sunday’s man of the match Scott McTominay wasn’t involved but this was a strong United team. Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood were all playing.
Everton also left a few regulars out, i ncluding No1 Jordan Pickford, and Olsen was busy on his first home start.
Donny van de Beek may have beaten him in the seventh minute after a back heel from Pogba set him up. Seamus Coleman slid in to block but, moments later, Olsen almost came a cropper as he tried to dribble the ball past Cavani. He escaped — just — and on the quarter hour did rather better to dive at the Uruguayan’s feet as he dashed from goal.
Cavani then struck a lovely volley at the far post that was saved by Olsen before the keeper denied him again after the striker lifted the loose ball beautifully over a defender to drive in another shot.
United were relentless early on and Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti looked frustrated and no wonder. His team were defending manfully but had been ponderous with the ball. Soon they did improve and with territory came opportunity.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free- kick from 25 yards bringing an athletic save from the United goalkeeper.
In the second half, Cavani was fortunate there were no VAR officials to spot him shoving Mina to the f l oor by the throat. Fernandes was also fortunate to escape censure after making a back for Richarlison to go crashing over. The Brazilian looked dazed and required a few minutes of treatment before he was replaced.
Cavani worked Olsen at his near post again after controlling a lofted pass from Alex Tuanzebe while Greenwood drove a shot carelessly high.
That prompted a reshuffle by Solskjaer. Rashford and Martial both came on for the final 25 minutes and that felt like the right move.
Everton remained the dominant force in terms of territory but by now it was a quite different game.
And Cavani’s class would prove the difference in the end.
EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Olsen 8; Coleman 7, Keane 7, Mina 6, Godfrey 6; Gomes 6 (Davies 58), Doucoure 6 (Tosun 89); Iwobi 6, Sigurdsson 6, Richarlison 6 (Bernard 56); Calvert-Lewin 6. Subs not used: Pickford, Kenny, Holgate, Gordon. Booked: None.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): Henderson 6; Tuanzebe 6, Maguire 6, Bailly 6, Telles 7 (Shaw 84); Pogba 6, Matic 7; Van de Beek 6 (Martial 67), Greenwood 7 (Rashford 67), Fernandes 7; Cavani 9. Subs not used: Grant, Fosu-Mensah, Fred, Lingard. Booked: Pogba, Tuanzebe, Martial, Shaw. Man of the match: Edinson Cavani. Referee: Andrew Madley. Attendance: 2,000.