Manchester United stopped Liverpool’s attempt to win four trophies in Jurgen Klopp’s final season after Amad Diallo’s goal led them to a 4-3 victory in extra time in the FA Cup quarter-final.
The Ivory Coast winger got a red card for a second offense for taking off his shirt in celebration after a chaotic 120 minutes that kept United’s chances of winning a trophy this season alive.
Twice Erik ten Hag’s team had to come back late to make it to the semi-finals.
Two goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah in the final minutes of the first half turned the game in Liverpool’s favor after Scott McTominay scored first.
Antony’s first goal at Old Trafford in over a year kept United in the game and sent it to extra time.
Liverpool took the lead again when Harvey Elliott’s shot, which was deflected, went into the goal.
But Marcus Rashford, who had missed a great chance to win the game in injury time, made up for it by scoring to make it 3-3.
Diallo then scored his second goal ever for United in added time of extra time at the end of a fast counter-attack from a Liverpool corner, led by the impressive Alejandro Garnacho.
United are 17 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League and have exited both the Champions League and the League Cup early, so the pressure was on Ten Hag to stay in charge for a third season.
The home team started like a team who knew their season relied on winning as they started very strongly and got their reward.
Garnacho’s shot was saved by Caoimhin Kelleher but bounced up for McTominay to score his ninth goal of the season.
Liverpool has had a much busier schedule recently than United as they are still in three competitions and won the League Cup last month.
Klopp’s team took half an hour to wake up, but once they did, they were much more effective in the attacking third.
The visitors turned the game around in the final moments of the first half as Mac Allister’s deflected shot had too much power for Andre Onana.
Three minutes later, Liverpool was in the lead as Salah scored again against his favorite opponents.
United asked for a foul on Bruno Fernandes by Joe Gomez, but Salah had an easy task of scoring his 13th goal in 14 games against United after Onana saved Darwin Nunez’s initial effort.
Liverpool had much more control of the game after the break, but they also missed chances to finish the game off.
Onana kept his team in the game by saving shots from Dominik Szoboszlai and a very strong shot from Nunez.
United were not very effective and lacked ideas in attack as they tried to score until Antony became an unlikely hero.
The Brazilian had only scored once in his previous 38 games but showed no lack of confidence as he turned and shot into the far corner three minutes from the end.
Liverpool almost scored immediately as Elliott’s mistimed cross hit the post.
At the other end, Rashford should have completed the comeback, but after controlling the ball well, he shot wide with only Kelleher to beat.
A fast-paced game continued to move from one end of the field to the other in extra time. Elliott's shot, which changed direction after hitting a defender, seemed likely to once again put Liverpool in the top four.
However, United didn't give up. Rashford was more effective when given a second opportunity, after Nunez lost possession deep in his own half.
With Liverpool seeing an opportunity to win from a corner at the very end, Garnacho broke free and made a perfectly timed pass to Diallo, who then scored by hitting the far goalpost.
AFP
