Manchester United 2-4 pen. (3-3 a.c., par.): Escaped from the disaster of the century and made a date in the final with City

Manchester United almost suffered an epic upset when they lost a three-goal lead against Coventry (3-3) but held on to win 4-2 on penalties to set up a second successive FA Cup final date with City year.

If the first FA Cup semi-final had suspense and tension, with holders Manchester City needing to reach the 84th minute to redeem themselves with Bernardo Silva making it 1-0 against Chelsea, then the second was drawn from… Hollywood!

And that’s because Manchester United looked to have an easy task against Coventry earlier with a three-goal lead before an hour had even been played, but the Championship side staged an epic counter-attack down the stretch to find themselves three goals down after the 70th minute. (the last one with a penalty at 90+5′) and lead the match to overtime.

There the thriller continued but no goals were scored to take us to penalties where United conceded just one and Coventry two as the Red Devils won 4-2 in Russian Roulette and qualified for the 22nd time in history them in the final of the oldest intercollegiate football institution.

Where they will try on May 25 to change last year’s scenario and after their 1-0 defeat by City to be the winners of the Manchester derby this year in order to end a “difficult” season for them in a nice way.

The penalty shootout:

Casemiro’s penalty was saved by Collins
Wright on target, 1-0 Coventry
Dalot is on target, Manchester United draw 1-1
Thorpe is on target, Coventry 2-1
Eriksen is on target, Manchester United draw 2-2
Onana saved O’Hare’s penalty
Fernandez on target, 3-2 Manchester United
Sims misses, the ball over the crossbar
Heilund is on target, 4-2 Manchester United

The match

Manchester United were clearly superior to Coventry in the first half and this was not only reflected in the number of final attempts by the two teams (11-1 in favor of the Red Devils, 3-0 on target, 65%-35% possession) but also in goals, with the visitors typically scoring two without any response from the opposite side.

McTominay combined beautifully with Garnazzo and Dalot to open the scoring for his side in the 23rd minute with his 10th goal of the year in all competitions while on 45+1′ it was 2-0 for United, with Fernandes firing in corner from the right and Maguire takes a commanding header.

Before an hour had passed (58′), the Portuguese left the role of creator for that of the scorer to make it 3-0 for United, but this goal relaxed the reds of Manchester too much and they paid dearly for it .

Not only were Coventry not willing to throw in the towel, they set out to make history as they counter-attacked in the final stretch to send the second semi-final into extra time, sending their fans into a frenzy.

In the 71st minute he reduced it to 3-1 with Simm and eight minutes later he put extra pressure on United by gnawing away at the difference between them again (2-3 from O’Hare), for the free kick to come in stoppage time, when Wan-Bissaka found the ball with a hand in his team’s box and Wright sent the semi-final into half-hour extra time by making it 3-3 from the penalty spot at 90+5.

The big emotions were not missing even in the extra half hour, since both teams flirted strongly with the goal. First, United, with Fernandez’s shot in the 94th minute which sent the ball hitting the crossbar, and then – more strongly – Coventry, with Wright’s diagonal shot in the 112th minute going just wide and his tremendously powerful shot Sims in the 115th minute rattles the crossbar.

At 120+1 the Championship team seemed to be living the ultimate dream when Thorpe sent the ball into the net of Onana’s home net but the VAR intervened and did not count it after Wright was (by a few centimeters) offside, so that the two teams on penalties to settle their differences.

It was there that Coventry celebrated first when Casemiro missed United’s first attempt (saved by Collins) but in the finale United smiled, with the Red Devils hitting the next four (O’Hare and Sims also failed to find the net ) and take the victory with 4-2 as well as the qualification to the grand final.

COVENTRY: Collins, Latibondier (63′ Tavares (106′ Godden), Thomas, Kitching (63′ Binks), Bidwell (80′ DaSilva), Eccles (63′ Thorpe), Schiff, O’Hare, Van Ewyk, Wright, Sims
MANCHESTER UNITED: Onana, Dalot, Casemiro, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, McTominay (103′ Forson), Mainu (72′ Eriksen), Garnazzo (66′ Anthony), Fernandes, Rashford (90+7′ Diallo), Hailund

The results of the semi-finals

Manchester City – Chelsea 1-0 (84′ Silva)
Coventry – Manchester United 2-4 pen. (3-3 k.a., par.) (71′ Sims, 79′ O’Hare, 90+5′ pen. Wright / 23′ McTominay, 45+1′ Maguire, 58′ Fernandes)