MANCHESTER UNITED have sneaked through to the FA Cup final on penalties after Coventry came back from 3-0 down to take the tie to spot kicks.The Red Devils took the lead through Scott McTominay’s 23rd-minute finish.Right on half-time, Harry Maguire doubled his side’s advantage with a bullet header from a corner.United captain Bruno Fernandes made it 3-0 just before the hour mark after pouncing on a Coventry defensive error before Ellis Simms netted for 3-1 to begin the Sky Blues’ epic comeback.Callum O’Hare’s deflected effort flew past Andre Onana to make it 3-2 – and Haji Wright’s 95th-minute penalty completed a stunning turnaround to take the FA Cup classic to extra time.Victor Torp thought he etched his name into FA Cup history in the 120th minute, only for his strike to be ruled out by VAR for an offside in the build-up.The tie was decided by penalties, which saw Rasmus Hojlund slam home the decisive spot kick to spare Man Utd’s blushes and secure their spot in the final.
Match result: Coventry City 3-3 Man Utd (PENS 2-4)
Coventry City team: Collins, Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Bidwell, Eccles, Sheaf, O’Hare, Van Ewijk, Simms, Wright
Man Utd team: Onana, Dalot, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, Casemiro, Mainoo, McTominay, Fernandes, Rashford, Garnacho, Hojlund
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And United have a few winnable league games coming up in their pursuit of European football.
Erik ten Hag will likely see out the season now, too.
How many points will they claim from this next four?
Copy linkCopiedReaction from Neil Custis
Bruno Fernandes ended the FA Cup semi-final a man bemused as to what he had been a part of.
No doubt knowing it would be he would have to try and explain it all again.
Rarely have a team slunk away from this stadium with a feeling of embarrassment having just reach an FA Cup Final.
The next time Fernandes turns up at the home of football he wants to be heading up those metal steps and picking up silverware.
Nothing less will do for the captain of Manchester United.
But he knows they have not got a hope of gaining revenge on this cross town rivals Manchester City if this is what they are going to deliver.
Copy linkCopiedOh no, Onana
Andre Onana admits getting through today was a ‘mixed feeling’.
And he says he and his teammates will return to Wembley next month and WIN the trophy.
He was booked in the shootout – after being booked in normal time. But he WON’T be suspended for the showpiece final.
He told BBC: “It’s a mixed feeling. We went through, that’s why we came here.
“It was a tough game at the end. We were in control. After so many individual mistakes we conceded three goals. The most important thing is to win. We have to look forward to the coming games.
“Somehow we lost control of the game.
“We are Man Utd. We must win. We feel good, we feel happy to be in a final. We’ll come back here to win.
“The most important thing is the victory. We’re in the final, that’s what matters.”
Copy linkCopiedLastly from Robins
On losing out on penalties and the historic afternoon, Robins concluded: “There’s always a bit of gamesmanship [in penalties]. We needed to score the five goals. We scored the five in the summer and missed the sixth and Luton went up. It feels like a kick in the teeth.
“I’m really proud of them.
“We’ve just said to them they’ve put themselves right up there in the history of the football club. People will talk about this game for a long time.”
Copy linkCopiedFinally from ETH
He says his side have a great chance to win the final against Manchester City, despite playing the best football team in the world.
He finished: “I want to win it. I’m sure we have a good chance to win this final, although we play the best team in the world.
“We do have a chance though. We showed that this season.
“This season has had many ups but also many downs. Winning the FA Cup doesn’t make it successful, we want to win more.
“We have been in three finals in two years, which is good, but we had a lot of setbacks this season.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries and hopefully those players can be back for the final. If we go with a squad who believe then we have a chance to win a trophy.”
Copy linkCopiedRight mentality
Ten Hag would also praise his side’s mentality and said they have character which they showed…
He continued: “We can’t say this group doesn’t have the right mentality because they showed character today, but in the final part there was a lack of discipline.
“We have to keep the ball, keep making passes, go for goal and then also be strong in defence. It’s about communication and we have to improve on this.
“It was about mentality in that moment. You have a plan and have full confidence so I told them to stick to the plan.
“I had confidence we would win the shootout. Normally Casemiro scores, we train them very well.”
Copy linkCopied’Resilience’
Erik ten Hag claims his side showed RESILIENCE to win the penalty shoot out.
And he called it a ‘strange game’ having thrown away a three-goal lead.
He told ITV: “It was an incredible game, a strange game too. We had total control for so long and then gave it away in the last part of the game. We did show resilience to win the penalty shootout.
“We had control for 75 minutes and have to give Coventry a compliment for what they did in the last 15 minutes.
“We have to improve. We talk a lot about this. First you have to put yourself in a winning position but then you have to take it over the line. In these moments we are making mistakes and not keeping our responsibilities.”
Copy linkCopiedMore from Robins
The Coventry boss was gutted that VAR ruled out the club’s huge moment, adding: “You get to penalties and it’s a lottery. You don’t hold anything against anyone if they show the courage to take one in a cauldron.
“It’s a toe nail. Those lines are the bane of our life. You don’t get a chance often to go to an FA Cup final and we were really really close.
“We have to pick ourselves up because there’s a game on Wednesday.”
Copy linkCopiedMark Robins reacts
The Coventry boss hailed his ‘incredible’ team for their comeback and admitted he ‘couldn’t be prouder’.
He said: “We conceded too many poor goals. We knew we had to make changes which we did at half-time. We spoke about not having regrets. We started to look more of a threat.
“To come back from 3-0 down is incredible. Some good quality football. We were really disappointed at the end.
“We hit the bar and had a goal disallowed. It was a really difficult game. We lose Tavares to injury and had to make another change.
“If you can attack them you can really hurt them. I can’t be prouder of them. They did fantastically well. I think we’ve made Coventry proud.
Copy linkCopiedProud
Coventry’s admin reacts to the penalty shoot out defeat.
We fought like hell to turn that around, and we nearly did it. Your noise took us all the way and together we found ourselves on the brink of something incredible. Our boys did us proud. 🩵 pic.twitter.com/2qNuQZFQRZ— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) April 21, 2024
Copy linkCopiedLooking ahead
And United go into the final as underdogs, clearly.
A performance like that next month could be quite something! Betfair odds:
Man City 9/31
Man United 12/5
Copy linkCopiedPlayer ratings
Bruno Fernandes was awarded player of the match, as we said.
But how did SunSport view United’s players in the performance this afternoon.
Well, you can find out now!
Copy linkCopiedBruno POTM
Bruno Fernandes was given player of the match this afternoon and admitted he thought Coventry’s ‘goal’ in extra time was offside when it happened.
And also said winning just the FA Cup doesn’t mean it’s been a successful season.
He told ITV: “When they scored a goal we thought it might be offside, we couldn’t tell from the front.
“We put ourselves in a difficult position and should have killed it earlier but we didn’t. We have to do so much better.”
“We’ll never be successful if just winning FA Cup.
“The standard of this club is much higher than what we have been doing. We have to do better in the league, the League Cup and in Europe.”
Copy linkCopiedMatch report
Probably only Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United could manage to book a place in an FA Cup Final while hanging their heads in shame.
But while United eventually confirmed a second consecutive all-Manchester final in this competition, the way they chucked away a three-goal lead against Championship Coventry was extraordinary even by their standards of low farce.
And when Coventry’s Victor Torp netted in the 120th minute it looked like the most ridiculous comeback in Wembley history until VAR Thomas Bramall ruled it out for a marginal offside in the build-up.
Yet United came from behind in a nerve-shredding penalty shoot-out as Coventry skipper Ben Sheaf blazed his effort horribly off-target to send United through.
Mark Robins, who once saved Sir Alex Ferguson’s skin with a famous FA Cup goal, watched his Sky Blues roar back with three goals in the final 20 minutes – an Ellis Simms strike, a deflected Callum O’Hare effort and a controversial penalty converted by Haji Wright.
United were roundly booed by their own supporters at the end of normal time, as Coventry’s delirious supporters partied like it was 1987, when their club won the Cup in a classic final against Tottenham.
Copy linkCopiedFull time stats
A total swing in the game after half time. They were cruising at the interval.
The stats showing there was really very little between the sides in the end.
Copy linkCopiedMore from Maguire
He told ITV (per BBC): “We found a way. We started the game really well and then conceded a sloppy goal. We were unfortunate to concede the second goal.
“I think the penalty was so hard but all credit to Coventry. They made it tough for us in the second half of extra time.
“It sums up our season, we had great control and played well for 60 minutes but then we conceded out of nothing.
“Then I don’t know, it seems like the world wanted Coventry to go on and do it. We showed great character to stick with it and it was important to win the shootout.”
Copy linkCopiedTen Hag to go?
Erik ten Hag is now the favourite to be the next manager to leave his post after that showing.
4/1 with Betfair this morning, he’s now the market leader at 3/1.
No Manager To Leave 17/20
Erik ten Hag 3/1
Vincent Kompany 15/2
Chris Wilder 9/1
David Moyes 12/1
Copy linkCopiedFinal once more
Plenty of reaction to come after that one.
But it will be a Manchester derby in the FA Cup final for the second successive year.
Copy linkCopiedImmediate reaction
Harry Maguire tells ITV: “We found a way. It sums up our season.”
Copy linkCopiedContrast in the fans
The United end is half empty! Some had left when it looked like Coventry won it at the death.
Half empty is maybe giving them credit too!
Coventry’s fans all raise their sky blue flags in appreciation of their players who now go to take a standing ovation.
Copy linkCopiedCoventry 3-3 Man Utd (United win on penalties)
Heartbreak for Coventry City. A cruel way to lose.
As Onana and Hojlund celebrate in front of the fans, not one United player makes the run to celebrate with them from the halfway line.
They know fine well they’ve got away with one here. Big time.
Tears in the Coventry end and in the players who missed too.
Copy linkCopiedPenalties
HOJLUND SCORES! UNITED WIN THE SHOOTOUT!
Man Utd: ❌✔️✔️✔️✔️
Coventry: ✔️✔️❌❌
Copy linkCopiedPenalties
Sheaf SKIES his penalty! Onana with the mind games to put him off and was booked for doing so.
Man Utd: ❌✔️✔️✔️
Coventry: ✔️✔️❌❌
Copy linkCopiedPenalties
Fernandes strokes it home to hand United lead!
Man Utd: ❌✔️✔️✔️
Coventry: ✔️✔️❌
Copy linkCopiedPenalties
Onana saves from O’Hare! Poor penalty!
Man Utd: ❌✔️✔️
Coventry: ✔️✔️❌
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