Manchester United are through to the FA Cup semi-finals.
The Red Devils hosted Marco Silva’s Fulham in Sunday afternoon’s quarter-final and although the 20-time league winners were poor for large parts of the game, a dramatic second half saw them turn their fortunes around.
Falling behind after 50 minutes thanks to a well-deserved goal from striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, Manchester United found themselves just 40 minutes from elimination.
However, a quick breakaway saw Jadon Sancho presented with a virtually open goal and the Englishman would have netted had it not been for a blatant handball off the line by Brazilian Willian.
With United rightfully awarded a spot kick, Fulham and their squad quickly imploded. Willian was shown a straight red for his handball and Mitrovic, his side’s hero up until this point, lost his head and shoved referee Chris Kavanagh also resulting in a straight red card. Silva was also sent packing from his technical area for his angry reaction.
As the dramatic scenes died down, midfielder Bruno Fernandes was tasked with converting his penalty kick, which he did with ease.
Down to nine men and with United on the up, Fulham found it impossible to contain the Red Devils and conceded a second thanks to a classy finish from Marcel Sabitzer less than two minutes later.
Fernandes then completed a brace with a few seconds to play ensuring his side ran out 3-1 winners. United have now booked their place at Wembley for a semi-final against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Speaking after the unusual game, manager Erik Ten Hag was particularly impressed with Sabitzer and singled the on-loan Bayern Munich star out for some praise.
“He had a great performance,” Ten Hag told reporters after the game, as quoted by Metro. “We are glad he is back from injury.
“We will be playing a game every three days between now and the end of the season so we need as many fit players as possible.”
United’s next game, which will be against Newcastle United in the Premier League, is scheduled to take place on 2 April 2023, and with Casemiro suspended following his red card against Southampton last week, Sabitzer should be in line for another start.