2
It was a thrilling FA Cup quarterfinal game and it was Manchester United who prevailed 4-3 against Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.
It was a humdinger of a contest and it was the hosts who started brightly with Scott McTominay scoring the opener in the 10th minute.
And the Scot should have put them further ahead but hit it straight at the Liverpool keeper. And as has been the case for a lot of this campaign, the players started sitting back and soaking in the pressure.
That ploy might have worked out in the end against Luton Town but with Liverpool’s quality, the dam was bound to break and break it did close to half-time.
Sitting back, a common problem
They headed into half-time with a 2-1 lead thanks to two quick-fire goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah.
The Liverpool dominance continued in the second half and the players seemed like they were chasing shadows at times until a fantastic equaliser from Antony in the 87th minute which took the game into extra time.
Not many were happy when the Brazilian came on in place of the returning Rasmus Hojlund but he made it count with a swivelled finish with his weaker foot.
It resembled a boxing tie in extra time with one counter-attack after the other from both sides with the visitors scoring first before Marcus Rashford brought parity after finally getting one thing right in the game.
The game was won in the end by another substitute Amad Diallo, who had a lot of work to do from Alejandro Garnacho’s pass and despite taking it wider than he would have liked, the young Ivorian squeezed it into the far corner.
Amad finally makes it
A rush of blood saw him receive a second yellow for removing his shirt during his celebrations but the result was another reminder of his talents.
Many have questioned why the manager has not trusted the winger despite his quite magnificent loan with Sunderland in the Championship last season.
Ten Hag’s substitutions have often been criticised this campaign, but on Sunday it worked an absolute treat!
Two very unlikely sources of relief for the manager with the highly criticised Brazilian scoring a last-minute equaliser, that too with his right foot, and the hardly-used Amad scoring the winner.
Both of them might have saved the manager’s job for now and he will hope both players can now grow in confidence to give him extra options as the business end of the season awaits.
Soccer2day 