FA Cup: Chelsea, Liverpool and United ok, De Zerbi eliminated

De Zerbi out of the FA Cup, Klopp ahead with the young players, Chelsea and United saved at the end by extra time. These are the verdicts of the last round of 16 of the FA Cup, which already knows the quarter-final pairings scheduled for the weekend of March 17: Manchester United-Liverpool, Manchester City-Newcastle, Chelsea-Leicester, Wolverhampton-Coventry.

Wolverhampton-Brighton 1-0

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In the end Roberto De Zerbi has to give up. To injuries, which took half his team away from him and even forced him to change formation. Goalkeeper Steele’s mistake, which paved the way after less than 2 minutes for what turned out to be Lemina’s decisive goal. At Wolverhampton, who scored the 1-0 in the second half, they dig in to defend it. This time Brighton fails to draw like on Saturday in the Premier League against Everton and finds itself out of the FA Cup, in which it hoped to reach at least the semi-final like in 2022-23. The seagulls, Roma’s next opponents in the Europa League, have all the mitigating circumstances, but the defeat remains hard to swallow because the Wolves were beatable and the Coventry who they will find in the quarter-finals are a Championship team more than within reach. The opportunities arrived, especially in the defense, but none of De Zerbi’s attackers managed to find a way to score. Wolverhampton celebrates their passage to the quarter-finals with their stadium, Brighton suffers a disappointment.

Nottingham Forest-Manchester United 0-1

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He may be one of United’s most criticized veterans, one of those signings that won’t be repeated in the Ratcliffe era, but Casemiro still knows how to make a difference. The Brazilian midfielder put his mind to it in the 89th minute to give Ten Hag a hard-fought victory at Nottingham Forest which earned them a pass to the FA Cup round of 16. The coach restored confidence in another criticized Brazilian, Antony, who in 73 minutes on the pitch he tried to do something, including two of the Red Devils’ 7 total shots towards goal. But Onana had to make important saves to keep United in the match. When extra time seemed inevitable, Casemiro dived with his head on Fernandes’ poisonous free kick and began to celebrate until he saw that the VAR had targeted his goal, validated after 3 interminable minutes. Those who sent United to the quarter-finals of the only cup they have left.

Chelsea-Leeds 3-2

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A goal from Gallagher is needed in the 90th minute to send Chelsea to the quarter-finals. The midfielder solved a game that was becoming worrying for the Blues by inserting himself centrally into the defense following a great pass from Fernandez, in a second half in which the weight of having to get a result at all costs at Stamford Bridge against a Championship team was becoming too heavy to bear. endure for Pochettino’s group, still burned by the Carabao Cup final lost in extra time to Liverpool on Sunday at Wembley. The 3-2 against Leeds by Gnonto (on the pitch in the 79th minute), who took the lead first with Joseph in the 8th minute and came to the Blues’ home to play for it, must become the new piece with which Pochettino must rebuild the confidence lost in the knockout against Liverpool. Chelsea had the character to react to the deficit, overturned before the break by Jackson and Mudryk, but in the second half, after Joseph’s equalizer, they began to take on water. Gallagher, when a new adventure in extra time was about to become reality, got Chelsea out of further trouble.

Liverpool-Southampton 3-0

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Write down this name: Jayden Danns. Born in 2006, a forward by profession, he is the 18-year-old who scores the brace that gives the very young Liverpool team the passage to the next round against Southampton. Klopp had to rely on his Academy even more than he did on Sunday in the extra time of the Carabao Cup final: this time he gave a starting shirt to the Welshman Lewis Koumas, born in 2005 and making his first team debut, celebrated with the 1st goal -0 in the 44th minute. The Welshman came off in the 63rd minute and was replaced by Danns, an Englishman who has been at Liverpool since he was 8 years old and had already made himself noticed on Sunday at Wembley: in the 74th minute he was already celebrating his first goal with the Reds, a diagonal shot inspired by Elliott, and in the 88th minute he conceded an encore by collecting a short clearance from Lumley following a shot from Bradley. For Klopp at the moment, young people are a necessity rather than a choice, but they are all responding: in the starting line-up there were 3 teenagers, another 3 came from the bench, including the 16-year-old Nyoni.