Manchester United through to the final after beating Tottenham 2-1
Manchester United have done it again and are on the right path to prove that they are becoming a competitive team in England. The club have been struggling since Alex Ferguson left but Jose Mourinho has achieved instant success after taking over from Louis Van Gaal. The Portuguese manager won what he calls a treble in his first season i.e. FA Community Shield, Carabao Cup and the UEFA Europa League which gave them qualification to the UEFA Champions League. This season, he tried to catch up with the cash rich City side who invested a lot but could not push for a title challenge as everyone anticipated. The club also crashed out of the Carabao Cup this season before being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Sevilla in the quarterfinals. Mourinho’s man now only had their eyes on the FA Cup for a last chance to salvage some silverware to the club. They had enough to defeat their opponents today to make it to the final of the tournament but it was not easy.
Dele Alli opened the scoring for Tottenham on the 11th minute from a Christian Eriksen cross and it looked like it was going to be a defeat for the Red Devils but they had other thoughts. The winter signing scored the equalizer for United to make it 1-1 on 24 minutes after Paul Pogba outmuscled Dembele on the left before delivering a perfect cross for the Chilean forward to score. Jese Lingard wasted an opportunity to give United the lead three minutes later when he blazed over the goal from a cross by Lukaku only 3 minutes after Sanchez had scored. Dier also had an opportunity when he shot from distance and saw his effort hit the post. Lukaku then combined with Sanchez in a counter attack that saw the Spanish midfielder, Ander Herrera scoring the winning goal. This is such a disappointment for the Tottenham team who have been improving year on year. They really need to start winning trophies soon if they are to keep their top talent because they have come short on so many occasions. Kudos Mourinho and his team. On to the next one now.