If Sir Jim Ratcliffe thought that running the London Marathon at 71 was to be his toughest ordeal on Sunday, his Manchester United team gave him second thoughts by coming within a whisker of FA Cup semi-final capitulation against second-tier Coventry City.
By the time United co-owner Ratcliffe arrived at Wembley, they were two up through goals from Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire and made it three before the hour mark through Bruno Fernandes. So far, so straightforward.
But it began to unravel for United when Ellis Simms pulled a goal back in the 71st minute, Callum O’Hare’s deflected shot eight minutes later gave Coventry a further foothold, and Haji Wright slotted a last-gasp penalty to force extra time.
The underdogs looked to have completed a comeback for the ages when Victor Torp poked in a winning goal in the 121st minute, only for VAR to detect a fractional offside and set up a shootout that United won 4-2 to set up a final with neighbours Manchester City.
“It’s a mixed feeling. We can be happy with the achievement, getting to the final, that’s huge,” said United manager Erik ten Hag. “It was an incredible game, a strange game too. We had total control for so long and then gave it away in the last part of the game. We did show resilience to win the penalty shootout.”
While United’s collapse further dented Ten Hag’s standing, Coventry’s cup run – which also included a miraculous comeback at Premier League side Wolves – has further burnished theirs and manager Mark Robins’.
“To come back from 3-0 down is incredible. We were really disappointed at the end,” said Robins. “We hit the bar and had a goal disallowed. I can’t be prouder of them. They did fantastically well. I think we’ve made Coventry proud.”
On the VAR decision, he added: “It’s a toenail. Those lines are the bane of our life. You don’t get a chance often to go to an FA Cup final and we were really really close. People will talk about this game for a long time.”
Casemiro missed United’s first penalty in the shootout, setting up Coventry to lead 2-1. But Onana flung himself right to stop O’Hare’s kick and, after Ben Sheaf blazed over, Rasmus Hojlund tucked away to give United an unassailable 4-2 lead.
It set up a second consecutive FA Cup final between the two Manchester clubs, after City won last season’s 2-1 to complete the second leg of an eventual Treble.
