FA Cup final set for a Manchester derby

Manchester United survived a huge scare to defeat Championship side Coventry City in the FA Cup semi-final clash at Wembley Stadium Sunday to book a clash with rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

The Red Devils faced Coventry as the favourite to book the second final ticket after Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 on Saturday. Still, Erik Ten Hag’s side needed some luck and penalties to scale through.

It all started well for the Premier League side, who went into a 3-0 lead by the hour mark with goals coming in from Scott McTominay in the 23rd minute, Harry Maguire just before the break and Bruno Fernandes in the 58th minute.

However, as they did in the quarterfinal against Wolves, Coventry scored three goals in the final 20 minutes through Simms, O’Hare, and an injury-time penalty from Wright.

Manchester United’s blushes were spared when Coventry had a late winner ruled out for offside. The performance was disappointing, and even after a penalty shootout win, Bruno Fernandes admitted that the team was in a difficult position and that Manchester United had higher standards than what they showed.

“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 we win [only] the 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.” Fernandes said.

The final is a repeat of last season’s FA Cup final, where Manchester City emerged Champions to see out their treble win. The Citizens can’t repeat their treble, but they can do an FA Cup and League double if they can finish atop the Premier League ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool, plus defeat Manchester United at Wembley on Saturday, May 25.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu