Giroud's goal in the 56th minute of the first half and Bei’s injury: how Chelsea beat Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final

The confrontation between London and Manchester in the FA Cup continued the next day after Arsenal quite unexpectedly beat Manchester City and three years later again ended up in the tournament finals. On Sunday, the second ticket was disputed by Manchester United and Chelsea, whose confrontation could be called even more intriguing.

After the pandemic, the Mancunians made an impressive leap forward. They joined the fight for the Champions League and lose only one point to Frank Lampard wards, who are located on the third line in the Premier League. Even against the background of Liverpool, which, after winning the championship, loosened its grip, the team of Ole Gunnar Solskher could be considered the best in England right now.

Chelsea, due to periodic problems in the defense, didn’t look so confident in the summer. Sheffield defeats with a score of 0: 3 and two strained victories over completely weak Crystal Palace and Norwich could not reassure London fans before a meeting with the team that won two victories this season with a total score of 6: 0 . However, Chelsea have already shown that the FA Cup is an important tournament for him, and players can tune in for one specific match. That is how Londoners beat Liverpool and Leicester in previous rounds.

Before meeting at Wembley, both Sulscher and Lampard decided to play it safe. They put up defensive squads with five defenders, well aware of what one mistake in such a match could lead to. This first led to a rather unprepossessing start of the match, and then to the fact that the players responsible for the defense created two moments at the United goal. David De Gea first managed the long-range shot of Rhys James, and then did not have time to react to Marcos Alonso, who struck his head just above the crossbar.

The measured and even boring first half was coming to an end, when for the Manchester United there was a chain of extremely unpleasant events. Defender Eric Beyi for three minutes twice faced his opponents from Chelsea. After the second strike, the Ivorian became very ill - he lost consciousness, and doctors brought him to life with an oxygen mask. Solskjer decided to seize the moment and slightly weaken the defense, releasing Anthony Martial as a substitute.

Due to a long pause, head judge Michael Dean was in no hurry to blow the whistle for a break. Even as the 11th added minute was in, the first half continued, and at that moment Chelsea defender Cesar Aspilicueta broke through on the right flank. The Spaniard found Olivier Giraud, who managed to open an account. Even after that, the whistle did not sound right away - the teams went to the locker rooms only when the numbers 57:37 stopped on the stopwatch.

GIROUD! 🤩 # EmiratesFACup # MUNCHEpic.twitter.com / ZslmfqUOJb

Immediately after the break, it became apparent that Solskjer had in vain changed his defensive scheme. Londoners had a few seconds to double the advantage. Mason Mount shot down on goal for Manchester United, and De Gea just hit the ball into his own post, from where he flew into the net.

Low & hard from Mason Mount! 👊 # EmiratesFACup # MUNCHEpic.twitter.com / 8DZE2TnmWB

After ten minutes at Manchester, they realized that it was time to save the game, and Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood came out to strengthen the attack. But the initiative was still owned by the Chelsea footballers, who created two great moments. Only in one of them De Gea saved his team, and in the other he was lucky that Mount struck just above the gate. The Mankunians never presented any intelligible answer. Only when Willy Caballero unsuccessfully came out of the gate when playing a corner, did Harry Maguire have a chance to break through on goal, but the defender was not accurate enough.

The Englishman upset his coach in the next episode, now at the possession of Manchester United. After lumbago Alonso Antonio Rudiger was ready to score the third goal, but Maguire himself cut it into his own net. 16 minutes before the end of regular time, the score was 3-0 in favor of Chelsea, and with this all questions about the winner could already be removed.

One, two, three for @ChelseaFC! 🤩 # EmiratesFACup # MUNCHEpic.twitter.com / 6jr3yiLACC

However, Bruno Fernandes had a different opinion. In the 85th minute, he got the right to get a penalty when the just-released Callum Hudson-Odoi broke the rules against Martial. The Portuguese unusual, but effectively hit and narrowed the gap, after which he quickly ran with the ball to the center of the field, hoping, among other things, for Dean's generosity to let him play a whole extra time. The referee really added a few minutes to the match, but all this time only the Lampard wards owned the ball.

Bruno makes no mistake 🎯 # EmiratesFACup # MUNCHEpic.twitter.com / o55m5yV8Gu

Chelsea won by a score of 3: 1 and caught up with Liverpool in the number of entries in the FA Cup final - Londoners did it for the 14th time. The decisive match with Arsenal, scheduled for August 1, will be a repeat of the last final of the Europa League, and a ticket to the Champions League will also be at stake.