For Brighton it proved to be the kiss of death. For United it was the moment of pure gamesmanship that showed the mental toughness that Erik ten Hag is now demanding from them.
Three days after crashing out of the Europa League with a simply appalling, shambolic performance away to Sevilla they bounced back to make it the first all-Manchester FA Cup Final in the 151-year history of this grand competition.
Not just that but it may well be United’s chance to deny Manchester City the opportunity to emulate their incredible Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup Treble from 1998-99. Roll on the final on June 3. Rarely will one be so eagerly anticipated.
But first this semi-final which unfolded as a tight encounter dominated by the slick box-to—box football from Brighton that really should have seen them rather than United prevail.
Their approach play certainly deserved it. If only they could finish – and that was summed up deep into extra-time when Alexis MacAllister and Kaoru Mitoma tried to walk the ball into the net after yet again cutting United open. Before that an appalling first touch by substitute Deniz Undav had wasted another glorious opportunity.
They missed their injured 18-year-old striker Evan Ferguson although beyond De Gea and Aaron Wan-Bissaka the best performers were all in blue and white. Not that it provided any comfort as Brighton still search for that first major trophy.
Instead United dug deep and it went to a penalty shoot-out and although David De Gea did not lay a glove on any of Brighton’s seven penalties he fully played his part with his presence as Solly March skied his kick high over the crossbar.
It was the only miss with De Gea’s redemption arc, after his horror show in Spain when he gifted two goals in the quarter-final second leg, almost as wide as the Wembley arch as he also made six saves – three of them outstanding – to deny Brighton in the intense 120 minutes that preceded it.
There were mind games too in another sign, perhaps, that Ten Hag is slowly developing a new-found resilience to United who bounced back to prevent questions being raised over their manager and the rate of progress being made under him – as undoubtedly they would be – had they exited a cup competition for the second time within 72 hours.
Maybe some of the under-fire United players, not least De Gea, even did enough to help salvage their careers at the club.
Prior to Ten Hag, and with him at times, they have looked so fragile and flaky and lacking in belief. But here they just hung on in there and made themselves hard to beat. And those mind games? Firstly, De Gea made Brighton’s penalty takers wait as he crouched by the side of the pitch appearing to study a list by his towel before slowly strolling to the goal. At the very least it wasted time.
Even more crucial, perhaps, was the cynical – or was it simply canny? – part played by substitute Wout Weghorst who was allowed to grab the ball after calmly converting his spot-kick before eventually handing it over to March.
Weghorst pressed the ball to his lips before saying something to the Brighton forward and referee Craig Pawson should clearly not have allowed it.
Did this put March off? Maybe not but it looked telling and proved to be as it was the only kick before which Weghorst, with the 30-year-old striker showing all of his experience, got to the ball ahead of Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez so he could hand it over to an opponent. Pawson realised what was happening too late to intervene.
It is highly unlikely that Weghorst will stay at United beyond his loan spell from Burnley and so this was arguably his greatest contribution since joining the club. The Dutchman will go down in United lore for it alone with the fans revelling in his cunning.
After March’s miss – even more tough on him as he had played so well – it appeared inevitable that United would then win with Victor Lindelof’s confident penalty confirming it.
And so they remain on course for an exceptionally successful season that could see them winning both domestic cup trophies, after their League Cup triumph, qualify for the Champions League… and maybe, deliciously for them, thwart City along the way.
In truth, though, they will have to play far better than this if they are to prevail as Ten Hag rightly acknowledged.
Remarkably United had lost seven of their last eight penalty shoot-outs before this one including, of course, the Europa League Final two years ago when De Gea missed from the spot. It was therefore not just the trauma of Seville that he exorcised but the ghost of Gdansk as United lost to Villarreal that night.
For United, their mentality monsters did not end there. Both Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho scored with confidence from the penalty spot on their return to Wembley for a shoot-out for the first time since both missed for England in the final of Euro 2020.
Although the occasion was not on the same scale it still took cojones from both players, especially in front of the baying Brighton fans. However neither looked like erring.
Prior to that De Gea had made three fine saves. He turned away Alexis MacAllister’s curling free-kick and dived low to stop March’s shot. But the best save came when he tipped over a fierce, rising snap-shot from Julio Enciso. For all his failings with the ball at his feet, which may shorten his United career, Dave can make saves. Ultimately he did not have to in the shoot-out. But he – and Weghorst – showed their experience and nous and made sure United did enough.
Match details
Brighton: Sanchez; Gross, Webster, Dunk, Estupinan; Caicedo, Mac Allister; Enciso (Veltman, 67); March, Welbeck (Undav, 75), Mitoma.
Substitutes: Steele, Colwill, Ayari, Gilmour, Van Hecke, Buonanotte, Offiah.
Booked Mitoma.
Manchester United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka (Malacia, 101), Lindelof, Shaw, Dalot; Casemiro, Eriksen (Fred, 62); Bruno Fernandes (Weghorst, 101); Antony (Sabitzer, 91), Martial (Sancho, 85), Rashford.
Substitutes: Butland, Williams, Pellistri, Elanga.
Booked Casemiro, Shaw, Lindelof.
Referee Craig Pawson (Sheffield).
Attendance 81,445
(Source: The Telegraph)
