Bernd Leno superbly saved spot-kicks from Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee as Fulham knocked holders Manchester United out of the FA Cup and progressed to the quarter-finals fifty years after the Whites reached the final of the world’s oldest club competition for the only time.
Marco Silva’s side had the better of an intriguing contest, buoyed by the belief instilled by last season’s league win at Old Trafford, in the hundred and twenty minutes that proceeded the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. Calvin Bassey, who volleyed Fulham ahead here last February, repeated the trick with a header at the far post from Andreas Pereira’s corner just before half time but the visitors were taken to extra time by Bruno Fernandes’ precise finish from the edge of the box.
The Portuguese midfielder’s leveller arrived in the 71st minute, which was when Fulham’s last FA Cup visit to the Theatre of Dreams unravelled two years ago, with a flurry of red cards after Willian had handled on the goal-line with Silva and Aleksandar Mitrovic losing their cool. The veteran Brazilian, resigned in February, converted a penalty after two end-to-end periods of extra time as Fulham laid those demons to rest.
Lindelof had been United’s hero last year when his winning penalty beat Brighton in an FA Cup semi-final, but the Swedish centre half was thwarted by Leno before Antonee Robinson serenely sent Andre Onana the wrong way. Leno sent Fulham into the last eight by using his legs to keep out a penalty from Joshua Zirkee, whose last-gasp goal had cruelly denied the Cottagers a point on the opening night of the season.
Leno had smuggled away an early shot from Fernandes before palming away a curler from Christian Eriksen, whilst Rasmus Hojland, who was eventually replaced by seventeen year-old centre forward Chido Obi, extended his scorless run to eighteen games. Hojland’s best chance arrived from an Eriksen cross but he blazed badly wide under pressure from Bassey.
No Silva side sits back, especially at Old Trafford where they had a point to prove. The excellent Sasa Lukic had a free-kick blocked before Robinson rifled over from distance. Lukic then did brilliantly to arc his run between Lenny Yoro and Diogo Dalot and reach Alex Iwobi’s ball but the Serbian midfielder’s looping header cleared the crossbar. At the other end, Zirkzee’s improvised finish saw him stab wide – and United paid the price in the only minute of added time.
Rodrigo Muniz flicked Pereira’s corner across goal and an alert Bassey headed in at the back post to the delight of a delirious travelling support. Fulham’s hopes of building on their advantage where hit by an untimely injury to Adama Traore, but Leno was on hand to keep out a header from Noussair Mazraoui and a fierce drive from Fernandes.
Substitute Smith Rowe did nearly double the lead but his well-struck shot was clawed away by Onana before Pereira burst onto a fine flick from Muniz only to see his threatening run ended by a brilliant piece of defending from Matthijs de Ligt. The former Manchester United playmaker then donated the ball back to his former employers deep in Fulham territory. Garnacho and Dalot took over with the full back picking out Fernandes on the edge of the box and the midfielder’s daisycutter was placed perfectly beyond Leno’s grasp to level the scores.
Muniz almost burst into a shooting position when he latched onto a lovely Iwobi ball, but Maguire conceded a corner – from which Joachim Andersen headed over. Leno denied Garnacho before Pereira powered an effort well over the bar. Smith Rowe forced another excellent reaction save from Onana, before United finished with a flourish. Leno tipped over an effort from Garnacho and Obi might have done better than stab wide from close range.
Garnacho’s pace panicked Timothy Castagne early in extra time but the young winger lashed into the side netting, before Ryan Sessegnon – sent on as an inverted right winger – darted inside Dalot and pulled the trigger, with Onana equal to the shot at his near post. Leno’s shoot-out exploits set up a home quarter final against Crystal Palace for Silva’s side. Where United go from here is anyone’s guess, but the anti-Ratcliffe chant of the two protesting supporters’ trusts before the kick-off resurfaced throughout the game: ‘Sixty-six quid, you’re taking the piss’. It’s hard not argue with that.
MANCHESTER UNITED (3-4-3): Onan; de Ligt, Maguire (Heaven 90), Yoro (Lindelof 83); Mazraoui, Dalot, Ugarte (Garnacho 53), Eriksen (Casemiro 68); Zirkzee, Fernandes, Hojlund (Obi 68). Subs (not used): Graczyk, Murdock.
BOOKED: Ugarte.
GOAL: Fernandes (71).
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, A. Robinson, Andersen, Bassey; Lukic (Reed 101), Berge; Traore (Smith Rowe 53), Iwobi (R. Sessegnon 107), Pereira (Willian 90+3); Muniz (Jimenez 90+3). Subs (not used): Benda, Cuenca, Diop, Cairney.
BOOKED: Pereira, Andersen.
GOAL: Bassey (45+1).
REFEREE: Stuart Attwell (Luton).
I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!
Well, our luck in the cup at Old Trafford finally changed.
And, to top off this victory, we land a home tie in the quarter finals against a team that we must be champing at the bit to have another go at after our dire performance of just over a week ago.
Looking good, but…
I’m not supposed to say anything negative, and just savour the fact that we have made it through, but that first half performance, against a God awful Man Utd team, was just not good enough, especially in, what was, almost certainly, our most important game of the season to date.
As good as Castagne, Andersen and Bassey were, defensively, Antonee Robinson had an absolute stinker. He looked as though he was playing with two left feet throughout and, when he stepped up to take a penalty, I almost died, only for him to produce the most nonchalant spot kick of all our players.
Iwobi ran him a close second for the worst player in our team.
The issue I have is that these two have been in a bad run of form for several weeks and any attacking threat down the left is completely nullified.
Eralier in the season, Marco Silva was, quite rightly, glowing in his assessment of Iwobi’s performances and Robinson was being talked about as a certain signing for Liverpool or, ironically, United. But that was a long time ago and neither has performed to the same level since, IMO, we beat Brighton at home.
Something must be amiss and needs to be addressed. Robinson’s pathetic right footed shot from range in the first half, brought Silva’s rage for a wasted opportunity to put United under pressure. But he did it again in the second half, albeit on his favoured left foot, this time. He gave the ball away in one of our breaks but recovered brilliantly to win it back. Then, immediately, gave it away again. He got sold, not one, but two, schoolboy dummies during the game and some of his attempted clearances, both in and outside the box, were incompetent-and that’s putting it diplomatically.
I’ve had my say and I’ll leave it at that but it is an issue.
Great to see Harrison Reed come on and look good. It looks as though he will be Lukic’s replacement for the Spurs game at least.
Kudos to Ryan Sessegnon, too. Brought on to play on his worst side, high up the pitch, he still managed to cause problems, nevertheless.
Willian and Sessegnon performed ably out wide and I wonder why Silva opted for Smith Rowe to replace the injured Traore instead of one of these two.
Still, we are in the next round and I guess that’s all that matters.
Charles, surely Robinson looked like he was playing with two right feet!
My man of the match was Berge. For a big man his play is very neat and he always seems calm and confident on the ball. Bassey and Leno both excellent too. Fans brilliant all game.
Shame we didn’t draw Palace away.
Will you ever see a cooler penalty than the one that Robinson took.
Thank you for the interesting references to previous matches. And 66 quid us hard to swallow!
*is hard to swallow*
Charles spot on -Jedi and Iwobi did have stinkers and the whole team had a shocking first half but we got better.This was no fluke and Man Utd deserved it. COYW.
I though Se and Willian looked better on the wing than Iwobi and Traore. A lacklustre first half. A great result nevertheless this case of the result being better than the performance The amount of work Lukic gets through is incredible. To me he is an unsung hero and a possible Club captain of the future.