Herrera sends United into the final as Spurs’ semi curse strikes again
Manchester United came from behind to book their spot in the FA Cup Final as their big-match mentality proved the difference in an exciting encounter.
Ander Herrera’s second-half winner was enough after Alexis Sanchez had cancelled out Dele Alli’s early opener.
It was another triumph for manager Jose Mourinho as he looks to end the season with another piece of silverware.
But it was yet more crushing disappointment for Tottenham. This was an eighth successive semifinal defeat in the FA Cup stretching back to 1991 as they remain the bridesmaids of English football.
Spurs may be making good progress under Mauricio Pochettino and have a talented group of players, but that first trophy continues to elude them.
Mourinho had insisted that places were up for grabs for this match after last Sunday’s limp home defeat to West Brom, which handed the title to Manchester City.
But when it was revealed, there were no surprises. The line-up was top heavy and the two big names under the most fire at Old Trafford in recent weeks – Paul Pogba and Sanchez – were both in from the start.
As a serial winner of trophies, Mourinho knows what works in the biggest matches and on the biggest stages and so he opted for experience.
Spurs have been playing at Wembley all season while White Hart Lane is being redeveloped, but here they were using the away dressing room and had the sight of half the stadium being a sea of red.
In the league fixture here back in January, it took Christian Eriksen just 14 seconds to open the scoring as Spurs went on to win 2-0.
They were again positive right from the off on this occasion and Harry Kane had a shot deflected over the bar by Phil Jones after 18 seconds.
There had been corners at both ends, but it was Tottenham who struck the first decisive blow in the 11th minute.
Davinson Sanchez’s long ball out of defence found Christian Eriksen in space down the right-hand side and the Dane looked up and provided an inch-perfect cross for Alli to sweep home from close range. From a United perspective, questions had to be asked. Leftback Ashley Young was nowhere to be seen and Pogba failed to keep up with Eriksen down the wing.
Suddenly, Spurs’ tails were up and three times in the space of five minutes, they were close to a second goal as their bright football opened up the Reds.
Kane was inches away from converting Son Heung-min’s cross at the back post, before Jones was there just before Alli to stop him from turning Son’s ball past David de Gea. Then after another good Spurs move, Eriksen scuff his effort wide of the far post after Kane had played him in.
But just as Mourinho was getting more exasperated on the touchline, his two big names combined to bring United level.
Mousa Dembele was guilty of overplaying in the wrong area and was robbed by Pogba, whose teasing cross was expertly headed in by Sanchez.
It was just a third United goal for the Chilean since his January move from Arsenal, but by far his most significant.
And it also continued his own incredible record of scoring on this ground in the FA Cup with this being his sixth goal in five appearances. United were nearly in front as it needed Michel Vorm to go full length to push away Pogba’s curler before the woodwork came to their rescue at the other end as Eric Dier crashed a low drive against a post with the aid of a deflection off Chris Smalling.
After such an absorbing 45 minutes, it was hard for the second period to match that, but Alli soon blotted his copybook with a late and nasty foul on Jesse Lingard for which he was shown a yellow card.
Eriksen got into a similar position from which he created the first goal, but on this occasion, his ball across just had too much pace for Alli, who was arriving late.
But from United’s first real attack of the half, they took the lead as Spurs failed to deal with a long ball.
Sanchez slipped it into Lukaku, who miscontrolled, but it turned into the perfect pass for Herrera, and the Spaniard fired it, first time, past Vorm from the edge of the box.
As Tottenham were forced to chase the game, there were spaces for Lukaku to exploit up front and the Belgian twice nearly sealed United’s spot in the final, before Pogba tested Vorm with a rasping drive.
Spurs huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser, but they couldn’t create that one golden chance and United saw the job through.