The big match between Manchester United and Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals, Sunday was very exciting. It took extra-time to destroy the Reds’ dreams of achieving a quadruple this season. The Red Devils finally won 4-3 at Old Trafford, Theater of Dreams!
United took the lead through Scott McTominay before the comeback of Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah at the end of the first half. Antony emerged as United’s second breather after equalizing in the final phase of the second half. In extra-time, Harvey Eliott gave the Reds the upper hand again, but Rashford and Amad Diallo ended the visitors’ resistance at the end of the match.
This match is the last match in the 23/24 FA Cup quarter-finals, where previously Coventry City, Manchester City and Chelsea had already confirmed their tickets to the semifinals. Before the match, Eric Ten Hag said that his team would go all out in the last event that could produce a trophy for United. Three games away from the trophy (FA Cup), the Red Devils will show a different face compared to their inconsistent form in the league, and that can be proven.
Therefore he played his main squad minus Luke Shaw and Casemiro who were injured. Andre Onana was the goalkeeper accompanied by the quartet Wan-Bissaka, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof and Diego Dalot.
Scott McTominay in this match played the defensive midfielder position with Kobbie Mainoo, supporting Bruno Fernandes’ task as attack organizer. On the wings, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho flank the Danish striker who has just recovered from injury, Rasmus Hojlund.
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Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp found that many of his players were starting to regain their fitness levels after recovering from injuries. Dominik Szoboszlai, Andrew Robertson and Mohamed Salah were played from the start along with the other core players.
Caoimhin Kelleher remains in goal because Alisson Becker is still injured. Accompanying Robertson in the defensive quartet, there are Virgil van Dijk and Jarell Quansah at the heart of the defense with Joe Gomez on the right side.
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Wataru Endo, Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister are the midfield motorbikes supporting the fast trio of Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez.
In terms of player composition and previous team performance, on paper Liverpool deserves to be the favorite. However, there is one advantage Eric Ten Hag has over Jurgen Klopp, namely that he has more time to prepare his team.
Manchester United last competed in a 2-0 win over Everton, last Saturday. Meanwhile, the Reds have to undergo the second leg of the last 16 of the Europa League against Sparta Prague, Friday (15/3/2024). With an open opportunity to get a quadruple, the latent danger for Jurgen Klopp’s squad is experiencing burn-out.
The first half started well for Manchester United, with Marcus Rashford getting the first chance in the 4th minute. Garnacho’s bait found him in the penalty box, unfortunately his curling shot was brilliantly parried by Kelleher.
The Red Devils finally took the lead in the 9th minute! Marcus Rashford’s individual action on the right side of Liverpool’s defense put pressure on Joe Gomez. The England national team striker then gave a breakthrough pass to Garnacho who immediately met it with a hard shot.
Kelleher was able to swiftly parry the shot, but unfortunately the ball was immediately hit by Scott McTominay at the goal mouth. A goal that made the Theater of Dreams roar loudly!
Wataru Endo scored a goal in the 37th minute, but the linesman raised his offside flag! Mohamed Salah found open space on the right side, then pulled Lindelof away from the defense. “King Egypt” handed the ball to Endo who immediately hit the ball into the right side of Onana’s goal.
Unfortunately for the Reds, a VAR review showed that the linesman’s decision was absolutely correct. Mohamed Salah was caught several centimeters offside when he received a pass from Joe Gomez.
Alexis Mac Allister equalized in the 44th minute! The mastermind of this attack was Jarell Quansah who decided to penetrate United’s penalty box past Kobbie Mainoo. This young defender ended his action by sending a pass to Darwin Nunez.
Without thinking, Nunez passed the ball to Mac Allister who was in a free position. The Argentine national team midfielder immediately hit the ball which was deflected by the United defender’s leg before entering the left side of Onana’s goal.
Catching the wind, Liverpool made a comeback through Mohamed Salah’s goal three minutes later! It started with an attack from your side but who failed, Darwin Nunez was able to control the ball to kick towards the goal. Onana was able to ward it off, but Mohamed Salah was able to brush the vomiting ball with his right foot.
A goal that ended the first half with disappointment for Eric Ten Hag’s side. Strategically, Ten Hag was able to overcome Liverpool’s game, but only five minutes into the final half of the first half did United have a comeback.
The second half went no less quickly than the first 45′ minutes. The wingers on both teams kept running to take advantage of each team’s open defensive system. However, in this round Liverpool seemed to be starting to feel comfortable dominating ball possession.
Antony finally equalized in the 87th minute! The player who came on to replace Rasmus Hojlund forced the score to a 2-2 draw at the end of the 90 minutes of the match after Kelleher couldn’t stop his spinning kick. The ball from his right foot rolled straight into the left side of the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper’s goal.
The first extra round saw Harvey Eliott emerge as the difference between Liverpool taking the lead again. His shot from outside the penalty in the 105th minute hit Christian Eriksen’s leg and flew straight into the right side of Onana’s goal. A dangerous alarm for United and its fans who only had 15 minutes remaining. And finally Eric Ten Hag’s troops could really make use of the limited time.
Marcus Rashford equalized in the 112th minute after taking advantage of McTominay’s pass. This time Virgil van Dijk was unable to stop Rashford’s attempt, who chose to shoot instead of passing it. After this goal, the moment belonged entirely to the hosts.
The winner was Amad Diallo in the 120th minute! The player who replaced Raphael Varane at the end of normal time was able to sprint three-quarters of the field with Alejandro Garnacho after taking advantage of Harvey Eliott’s mistake. Garnacho’s pass was executed with a cross shot at Kelleher’s goal, dashing Liverpool fans’ hopes of winning the oldest trophy in the world, the FA Cup.
Diallo unfortunately will miss the semifinal match later, because he closed the match with a red card after receiving an accumulation of yellow cards.
As discussed at the beginning, Eric Ten Hag actually prepared this match perfectly. The presence of Wan-Bissaka on the left side is very good in increasing the speed of Manchester United’s defense. He was able to compensate for Mohamed Salah’s ball-free movements, who sometimes had to switch to the right side with Luis Diaz, just to get the ball.
Ten Hag clearly instructed his players to pay attention to every progression. The defensive progression was carried out quickly to immediately return to the original position, while the attacking progression was carried out by three to four players very quickly to provide a surprising effect on Van Dijk cs’ defense.
In the first half they had to fall behind because they lost momentum for just 5 minutes at the end of the half. There was nothing wrong on United’s side, it was just that the Reds’ mental playing and fast penetration were able to produce two goals in four minutes, through Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah.
There was a look of disappointment on Ten Hag’s face when the camera caught the eye after the first half ended, but he had no right to “scold” his team for playing optimally in the dressing room. On the other hand, Jurgen Klopp smiled “wisely” as if he was enjoying the fruits of his team’s good play.
The moment Hojlund replaced Antony became Ten Hag’s plan B to face the Van Dijk-Quansah wall. It turned out that Hojlund couldn’t penetrate these two big, tall defenders by forcing sprints or physical clashes. Therefore, the goals from Antony and Rashford make it clear that it is more effective to face them with pass and go.
Van Dijk also faced a different opponent with Rashford as the spearhead who tended to avoid duels. This gives space for Garnacho, Antony and Amad Diallo to maximize their speed.
And United’s final goal was pure naivety from Harvey Eliott who was less than pragmatic with the ball at the end of the match. He wanted to choose to control the ball instead of throwing it away, but it turned out that Diallo was quicker to grab the ball and launch a counter attack.
The smile that spread across Jurgen Klopp’s face throughout the match suddenly turned sour. The pain surpassed what Ten Hag felt at the end of the first half.
Meanwhile, Ten Hag’s patience paid off, because he was able to give confidence to the players to continue implementing their strategy even when they were in a pinch.
Next, the semi-final schedule that has been drawn will bring Manchester United together with dark horse Coventry City (20/4/2024), while in the other match Manchester City will play a tough match against Chelsea.
This season’s FA Cup is more difficult to predict with the last minute drama that escaped Coventry City, Chelsea and Manchester United. Hopefully there will be other beautiful stories in the semifinals later.
ASL
