Manchester United March Back Towards Wembley

Sunday 14th April 2024, a day for the history books as Manchester United secure a spot in the Adobe FA Cup after a historic win at Leigh Sports Village against previous winners: Chelsea.

Goals from Lucía García and Rachel Williams secured the Reds a win despite previous Manchester United player Lauren James attempting to put her team back in the game.

STARTING XI

MANCHESTER UNITED- Earps, Mannion, Le Tissier, Turner, Blundell, Naalsund, Zelem, García, Toone, Galton, Williams

CHELSEA- Hampton, Charles, Buchanan, Carter, Périsset, Reiten, Cuthbert, Leupolz, Kaneryd, Ramírez, James

KICK OFF

Manchester were eager to get the game ahead in their favour from the start, as not even one minute into the first half Manchester United were on the attack.

Galton skilfully played the ball along the left wing after finding a break in the Chelsea back line, ultimately once she met the outside of the penalty area she crossed it onto the head of Lucía García who headed it home.

Was this early lead what gave the team the fighting passion and belief that they could beat Chelsea once and for all?

1-0

In the 23rd minute the Reds found themselves back in the attacking half as Ella Toone crossed the ball into the six yard box where it met the head of Rachel Williams.

A mistake for Chelsea and an important one as the cross almost looked identical to the one of Galton previously.

2-0

Previous winners Chelsea had finally found their rhythm as in the added time of the first half, Niamh Charles skilfully beat United’s defensive line resulting in Lauren James having a shot from the edge of the six-yard box, directly in front of the goal.

2-1

HALF-TIME

As the second half progressed and full time was looming in the distance it was looking more prominent than ever that Manchester United would finally break the curse and beat Chelsea.

However, Chelsea weren’t ones to be easily defeated as the closer the full time whistle got: the more they attacked; Marc Skinner wasn’t a stranger to this therefore in the 64th minute made a tactical decision in replacing Ella Toone with Hayley Ladd.

Chelsea soon became relentless due to the desperate nature in wanting to retain the title of ‘FA Cup Winners’ during their managers departing season. However despite the fight they put up, United’s back line and Mary Earps didn’t rest all focused on ensuring in getting their team back to Wembley.

After 99 minutes of determination from both teams, Manchester United came out on top. Credit needs to go to Mary Earps, an incredible player who kept Manchester United in the game when the team were struggling to secure another goal put themselves safely ahead.

FULL TIME

2-1

You can catch Manchester United on Sunday 12th May on BBC 1 as they take on Tottenham Hotspurs at Wembley Stadium. The build up officially begins at 13:50 while kick off is currently set for 14:30.