Manchester United progressed to the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday following a remarkable 3-1 victory over Fulham.
The Cottagers had led 1-0 going into the last 20 minutes, but their incredible meltdown in the latter stages saw Bruno Fernandes score twice, as well as Marcel Sabitzer, while two Fulham players and the manager were shown red cards.
The London club started the game on the front foot and David de Gea had to tip over a header from Issa Diop header early on, before Willian shot wide.
United did grow into the game, with Wout Weghorst shooting wide and Bernd Leno being called into action to keep out attempts from Marcus Rashford and Sabitzer. In the final stages of an underwhelming first half, Kenny Tete fired wide from the edge of the box and Scott McTominay’s strike was blocked by Tim Ream in the Fulham box.
Like in the opening 45, Fulham started the second period on top and De Gea made good saves to keep out Antonee Robinson and Willian strikes, and soon after, Marco Silva’s side took the lead. Diop managed to get a touch to a Fulham corner which flicked the ball into the centre of the box, where the waiting Aleksandar Mitrovic managed to poke the ball into the back of the net.
The Serbian was causing United real issues and he had three dangerous headers after the goal, the best of which required a fantastic save from De Gea to keep it out. But then United roared back into life with Fernandes and Jadon Sancho shooting wide, before the game was turned on its head in the 71st minute.
Clean through on goal, Sancho’s shot was handled on the line by Willian to deny the Red Devils a goal. A subsequent VAR check saw the Brazilian winger sent off and a penalty awarded. Yet, before the spot-kick could be taken, Silva was shown a straight red card on the sidelines for his protestantions, as was Mitrovic after he complained vociferously to Chris Kavanagh.
Fernandes converted from the spot after all the drama had died down, and just two minutes later United were ahead. Sancho and Luke Shaw combined down the left with the latter crossing the ball into Sabitzer, who managed to twist his body and somehow flick the ball past Leno for his first United goal.
Sabitzer and Antony then saw shots held as United dominated possession against the nine men. In the penultimate minute of injury-time, Fernandes wrapped things up when he fired into the net following a free-flowing move. Here’s how we rated the United players...