Brighton 0-0 Man Utd (6-7 on pens)
WEMBLEY STADIUM — Manchester United‘s hopes of a treble may have been dashed in slapstick fashion in midweek but the double remains on after Victor Lindelof‘s penalty settled a match that looked like it might never end.
It came down to sudden death, at the end of which a crestfallen Solly March pulled his shirt over tear-soaked eyes and a jubilant Wout Weghorst sprinted full pelt towards the United fans before executing a knee slide as effective as his spot-kick that preceded it.
Unusually for United, they will be underdogs in the final on 3 June against a City side that may or may not be looking to emulate their 1999 achievements by winning the treble of the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup. But working out a gameplan to stop Erling Haaland and co can wait. They slogged it out over 120 unsatisfying minutes with Brighton and just about claimed it on points.
It is a testament to Brighton’s rapid progress under Roberto De Zerbi that they were regarded as favourites by some beforehand. With Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire all missing, Manchester United’s back five, featuring two players out of position in Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot plus an undercooked Lindelof in front of a shaky David de Gea, looked there for the taking.
But Brighton, who have developed a more ruthless streak under De Zerbi, were unable to exploit their makeshift backline. Kaoru Mitoma vs Aaron Wan-Bissaka looked like the key battle, pitting the winger with a certified degree in dribbling against the full-back with an honorary one in one vs one defending. Bright as Mitoma was, Wan-Bissaka did an effective job of nullifying him.
It was a game of misplaced passes, loose touches, wrong decisions and dashed hopes. Attacking players of proven quality on both sides took it in turns to ruin promising situations in as infuriating a manner as possible. Marcel Sabitzer’s hopelessly overhit free-kick four minutes before the shoot-out summed up the profligacy.
United made an uncertain start, understandable perhaps given their nightmare in Seville. De Gea was more culpable than most to that horror show but made a morale-boosting stop early on to keep Alexis Mac Allister’s fizzing free-kick out.
But after withstanding early Brighton pressure, United began to create promising opportunities towards the end of the first half. The problem was they executed them horribly. An issue that afflicted both sides from start to finish.
Bruno Fernandes dragged a shot awkwardly wide from an angle when a pass across goal to Anthony Martial might have been the better option, before the Frenchman aimlessly lobbed a shot high and wide with Robert Sanchez stranded off his line. Sanchez then made an unorthodox stop with his feet – De Gea like – to keep Christian Eriksen out before half-time.
Brighton began the brighter after the restart, Julio Enciso, the latest diamond unearthed by their South American talent spotters, drawing a superb stop from De Gea with a stinging effort from a corner. Danny Welbeck and Solly March missed reasonable opportunities from set-pieces too, but their biggest moment came late into extra-time when Mitoma’s loose touch trickled towards De Gea as space opened in front of him.
United had chances in the additional 30 minutes too, Sanchez forced into a superb intervention to prevent a deflected Marcus Rashford effort from nestling in his bottom corner. Rashford also lashed a strike wide with his laces when the situation begged for a side foot.
By that stage, penalties were an inevitability. They could have played all night and no-one would have scored in regulation time. The first 12 efforts were converted with clinical precision. De Gea and Sanchez both did some last-minute cramming as the penalty takers strode forward but could get nowhere near the ones on target.
Rather than a save it was a miss that settled it. March, a player who has scaled new levels under De Zerbi, blasted his effort into a sea of devastated Seagulls. Lindelof duly took his opportunity to be the hero and United have a date of destiny with their local neighbours to look forward to.
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