In the squeaky posterior time of this FA Cup fifth-round penalty shootout, Victor Lindelöf and Joshua Zirkzee were the unfortunate ones whose kicks were saved, ending Manchester United’s trophy defence.
Fulham won the shootout 4-3 with a kick to spare and the visitors marginally deserved their passage, though this was a slog through 120 minutes of meagre fare that was no advertisement for the world’s oldest knockout competition.
Two years ago, after Fulham had been beaten in the last eight, Lindelöf was United’s hero in the semi-final. It was his penalty in the shootout against Brighton that took Erik ten Hag’s side to the showpiece, which they lost 2-1 against Manchester City.
In 2022-23 the Dutchman had already guided United to the Carabao Cup and followed that with triumph in this competition last season, beating City in the final. But if Ruben Amorim is to emulate his predecessor with a trophy in his first campaign, then it will have to be in the Europa League, in which he takes his beleaguered team to Real Sociedad for their last-16 first leg on Thursday.
Fulham’s Bernd Leno saved Lindelöf’s and Zirkzee’s penalties and Marco Silva’s side now stand two matches away from a Wembley tilt at a first major piece of silverware.
Leno said: “Unbelievable. I think we deserved to win after 90 minutes. Of course, penalties – it is sometimes a lottery and luckily we won. The goalie coach told me information, but my feeling is more important. I went the wrong way three times, but credit to our penalty takers – it is not easy.
“A brilliant job from all of us. Two years ago we lost in the quarter-final and we’re in the quarter-final again. We want to go to Wembley 100%.”
For United, it was the same old sorry tale throughout: they were a liability at the back and toothless in the final third. On 68 minutes Rasmus Højlund endured the humiliation of being hooked for the 17-year-old Chido Obi. This is what going an 18th consecutive game without scoring gets you, though the wider truth is how creatively deficient United are.
It was desperate from Amorim, who also introduced Casemiro for Christian Eriksen; moments later Diogo Dalot crossed for Bruno Fernandes to swing his left foot through the ball and beat Leno to level Calvin Bassey’s first-half header.
The head coach can argue the double substitution worked but, really, this was the latest case of his captain bailing out a team whose deep defensive faultline was to blame for Fulham’s opener. Andreas Pereira had arrowed a corner from the right to a free Rodrigo Muniz, who flicked on to Bassey, also unhindered because of Noussair Mazraoui dozing, and the defender headed past André Onana.
Fernandes had berated the assistant referee for the corner award – possibly because he believed that it had touched Pereira last – and he did the same after Bassey’s finish but the bottom line was that conceding in first-half stoppage time gave Amorim his latest uphill task.
With only seven players on the bench, most of whom were middling or young prospects, the glaring option was Alejandro Garnacho, who was warming up as the second half commenced. The Argentinian had agreed to “pay for a dinner” for his teammates, as his apology for stomping down the tunnel after being taken off against Ipswich in a rejig forced by Patrick Dorgu’s red card. He was a substitute because of a minor knock.
Soon he came on, but it jarred to see Eriksen and Zirkzee remain and Manuel Ugarte, one of United’s better performers, taken off for the winger. Amorim also removed Leny Yoro – who had lacked conviction – for the lesser-seen Lindelöf.
Despite Fernandes’s equaliser Amorim, a serial winner when in charge of Sporting, was again cast as a struggling leader of a struggling bunch. For swathes, Fulham either enjoyed keep-ball or parried the rare United foray.
Onana helped ensure that extra time was needed by flying to his right to save Emile Smith Rowe’s low shot and so, too, did Stuart Attwell when refusing a penalty shout for Obi when challenged by Bassey. The referee’s ruling seemed fair.
Even closer were a Garnacho burst that forced a save from Leno and Obi’s spurning of a gilded chance just before Attwell blew at the end of the 90 minutes.
For extra time Harry Maguire was replaced by Ayden Heaven, 18, for a debut to remember and he was close to witnessing a buccaneering Garnacho finish, with the winger zooming in, controlling with a knee and unloading but failing to score. The contest was nearly lit up, too, by Obi, who fired at the target from an acute angle, forcing the excellent Leno to tip away.
Ryan Sessegnon came on in the final 15 minutes and immediately swished in from the right and unloaded, with Onana saving sharply. But then came the best way to win, and worst possible way to lose: Fulham enjoying the first, as United endured the heartache of the second.
