Manchester United advanced to the FA Cup final on Sunday after a dramatic penalty shootout victory over second-tier Coventry City. The Red Devils looked to be cruising towards the final after Bruno Fernandes’ deflected shot put them 3-0 up in the 58th minute against a Championship side that had defied the odds just to make the semifinals. But Coventry is no stranger to comebacks, having scored twice in injury time to beat Wolverhampton in the quarterfinals, and staged an even greater one this time to set off wild celebrations in the sky-blue half of Wembley.
Simms gave Coventry a glimmer of hope by sweeping home a cross from Fabio Tavares in the 71st, O’Hare netted the second with the help of a lucky deflection in the 79th and Haji Wright equalized from the penalty spot in the fifth minute of injury time after a handball by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
United had taken the lead in the 23rd through Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire then headed in the second from a corner. That lead soon looked insurmountable after Fernandes’ shot took a deflection to sneak inside the near post for United’s third.
But no lead seems safe for this United side. This was a second late collapse in a matter of weeks after United gave up two injury-time goals in a 4-3 Premier League loss to Chelsea this month, when Ten Hag called on his team to learn how to close out games.
They showed no signs of having learned that lesson, and Coventry came the closest to netting the winner in extra time against a shell-shocked United. Simms first hit the crossbar with a stinging strike and Victor Torp then thought he had scored the winner in the 120th minute — setting off more wild celebrations by the Coventry players and fans — but it was ruled out by VAR for a narrow offside to set up the penalty shootout.
Casemiro missed United’s first penalty by shooting straight at goalkeeper Bradley Collins but Andre Onana saved O’Hare’s spot kick before Sheaf sent his well over the crossbar.
The win gives United a chance to salvage what has been a disappointing season. United only has an outside chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season and an FA Cup trophy — at rival City’s expense — could be the only thing that will convince new minority owner Jim Ratcliffe to keep Ten Hag in charge for next season.
Ten Hag, though, insisted that fans should look on the bright side after reaching back-to-back FA Cup finals.
“It’s not an embarrassment,” Ten Hag said. “It’s an achievement.”
