Manchester United reached their first FA Cup final since 2007 after a 2-1 win over Everton at Wembley on Saturday. Goals from Marouane Fellaini and Anthony Martial were enough to help the Red Devils cross the line in spite of an own goal from Chris Smalling.
Squads
Everton: Robles, Baines, Stones, Jagielka, Gibson, Cleverley, McCarthy, Lennon, Barkley, Besic, Lukaku
Manchester United: De Gea, Fosu-Mensah, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Carrick, Fellaini, Lingard, Rooney, Martial, Rashford
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End-to-end game before Fellaini breaks deadlock
Wayne Rooney started in midfield as a playmaker again for Manchester United with Marcus Rashford playing ahead of him while Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard on either side. The first half saw a number of chances for either side with Everton going closest in the first 10 minutes.
A Toffees counter-attack saw Romelu Lukaku win the ball in the air after a feeble challenge from Daley Blind. The Belgian striker rounded De Gea and had the net at his mercy but his shot was miraculously saved off the line by a back-tracking Wayne Rooney who headed it away from danger, much to the delight of the United fans at Wembley. In hindsight, Lukaku could have squared the ball to Tom Cleverley who was unmarked at the far post who could have easily tapped it in.
Chances soon fell to Ross Barkley for Everton and Marcus Rashford for United. Both saw their chances thwarted by the goalkeeper and defence, especially with Rashford having a great chance to grab the opener before the ball was cleared.
Rooney was pulling the strings for United and he even found Lingard with a neat pass from a deep position but the youngster’s shot on goal was straight at Robles from barely six yards out.
It literally was an end-to-end game with chances traded back-and-forth between the two sides. Lukaku had yet another chance to give the Merseyside the club the lead when he was one-on-one with De Gea again but a heavy touch saw him forced to take a shot from a tight angle that was easily saved by the Spanish goalkeeper.
However, United soon took the lead when Anthony Martial beat Muhamed Besic on the left to spring with the ball towards the goal line. As the defence set themselves up to block a cross, Marouane Fellaini stole in behind them and stepped back for Martial’s cut-back that was fired home past Robles to give the Belgian midfielder a goal against his former club.
Half-time: Everton 0-1 Manchester United
Everton miss penalty before United gift Toffees a goal
The second half saw Everton handed a lifeline when Timothy Fosu-Mensah brought down Ross Barkley inside the box. As Timothy Fosu-Mensah pointed to the penalty spot, replays suggested that Fosu-Mensah had got the ball as the English midfielder fell over. Shouts of dissent from the United players even saw a livid Rooney get a yellow card.
But after Lukaku stepped up to take the spot-kick, he saw his effort directed at the bottom corner saved by David De Gea diving to his right – justice for Fosu-Mensah. But Van Gaal decided to make a substitution soon after and hooked him off for Antonio Valencia to take his place.
United were on the ascendancy after the penalty-save with Rooney putting in a Man of the Match performance in attack and defence. After dispossessing Gerard Deulofeu while tracking back to spare Marcos Rojo the blushes, he even attempted a rocket of a shot on goal before John Stones stood in his way to block the effort.
However, United were dealt a blow when Everton equalised – through an own goal. Deulofeu had the ball and was moving with purpose down the right flank and as he sent a low cross into the box, Chris Smalling only managed to flick it back into his own net with De Gea beaten.
Deulofeu was causing United more problems even after the goal, this time from the opposite flank. On one counter, he fed Lukaku in the box and the Belgian was denied only by Fellaini as his compatriot made a fine tackle.
Van Gaal then brought on Ander Herrera for Fellaini late in the second half and he went into the book as soon as he came on while trying to drag back Barkley on a counter. But he soon made an impact when he created the winning goal.
In stoppage time, Anthony Martial started the move that saw him make a run through into middle of the pitch from the left, first to play a one-two with Rashford before playing another one-two with Herrera. The Spaniard initially lost the ball but stuck his leg out to release Martial under pressure from Phil Jagielka and he curled it past Robles to score the winner.
The win sees Manchester United reach their first FA Cup final since 2007.
