Here’s Simon Burnton’s report from Wembley, which is my cue to drift off into the night. Thanks for your company and emails, bye!
We’ll have a live match report from Wembley shortly. No more post-match interviews I’m afraid: the BBC coverage ended abruptly so that they can squeeze in Pointless Celebrities. I can MBM that if you like.
Jose Mourinho is one game away from his third trophy in two seasons at United manager. It hasn’t been smooth but he sure knows how to win trophies, something he’ll remind everyone of in the build-up to the final. Prizes make points.
It’s another to add to Spurs’ list of what-ifs. They started beautifully but faded after Sanchez’s equaliser. Harry Kane barely had a kick and Dele Alli was quiet apart from his goal. They are such a likeable side but they are running out of time to win a trophy before the time starts to break up.
The United players speak!
Ander Herrera “Really happy for the goal, for the victory. We are getting used to being in finals, which is good because that’s what this club is about. The centre-backs did an amazing job.
Chris Smalling “We turn up in big games and I think we’ve shown that again.”
Updated
That’s a huge result for United after a difficult week. Their star players, Pogba and Sanchez, were superb, and their much maligned defence controlled Spurs brilliantly in the second half. It was a really good game.
Updated
Full time: Manchester United 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester United will play Chelsea or Southampton in the FA Cup final! They started wretchedly but fully deserved to win an excellent match. Spurs have now lost their last eight FA Cup semi-finals.
90+6 min Marouane Fellaini replaces the man of the match Alexis Sanchez.
90+5 min Pogba flips a long pass into space for Lukaku, who is just beaten to the ball 40 yards from goal by Vorm. At the other end Smalling holds off Kane to win a goalkick, and is almost chestbumped by Jones.
90+4 min Nemanja Matic is down with cramp, so there’s another delay.
90+3 min Alexis Sanchez looks an absolute state, which is a reflection of the obscene effort he has put in all game. He’s been brilliant.
90+2 min Lukaku makes a great interception and sets Rashford clear, one against one with Dier. Rashford moves into the area, dummies to shoot but then loses the ball to Dier. He was a bit indecisive there, though it was good defending.
Updated
90+1 min There will be five minutes of added soccer.
90 min Herrera is booked for some foul or other. Spurs are running out of time. Lamela’s clip over the top is volleyed up in the air by the stretching Davinson Sanchez and De Gea makes a comfortable claim.
89 min Lamela’s curling free-kick is headed over from six yards by Wanyama. It was just behind him and so he couldn’t steer it on target.
88 min Vertonghen slips past Alexis Sanchez, who pulls him back. Free-kick to Spurs on the left wing...
87 min Lucas Moura spanks a desperate long-range shot well wide. United’s defence have been Spurs at arms length throughout the second half; it’s been a seriously good performance.
86 min Spurs make their last change, with Erik Lamela replacing Son.
85 min Rashford is booked for diving. He hurdled Davinson Sanchez’s tackle and fell over as he landed. It’s hard to say for certain whether it was a dive or whether the leap left him off balance.
Updated
84 min “I heard the opinion this week that Pogba is better with Herrera in the team,” says Adam Roberts. “It’s certainly true today; they’ve both been great.”
The balance looks so much better when they both play. That 4-3-3 should surely be the default formation next season.
83 min Eriksen’s tame low shot from distance is easily saved by De Gea.
83 min “My perception of practitioners of ‘the dark arts’ is entirely coloured by how creative the player is,” says Phil Podolsky. “ For someone like Deco, cheating was part of his credentials as Professor of Cunning at Oxford University, that also included being incredibly artful with the ball at his feet, so it’s qualitatively different from someone like Materazzi.”
82 min Another United change: Marcus Rashford replaces Jesse Lingard, who has put in his usual shift.
81 min United have controlled the game very well in the second half. There hasn’t been a lot between the teams but United have been just a bit better in all areas. Dier, meanwhile, is booked for plunging his studs into Lingard’s achilles.
80 min United make their first change: Antonio Valencia, who has cramp, is replaced by Matteo Darmian.
78 min Victor Wanyama replaces Mousa Dembele for Spurs.
77 min Valencia, who has already been booked, fouls Alli on the left wing. Spurs ask for him to be sent off but Anthony Taylor doesn’t oblige. Valencia made it look clumsy, which probably saved him.
Updated
76 min At the moment United look pretty comfortable. I can’t remember De Gea making a save since half-time.
75 min Pogba’s stinging shot from 20 yards is palmed behind by the flying Vorm. I think it was going wide anyway but it was a good strike.
73 min Eriksen, Spurs’ best player, hits a surprise left-footed shot from 25 yards that just misses the far post and sends a water bottle flying behind the goal. De Gea was happy to let it go, which showed exceptional judgement of where his off stump was.
72 min Pogba plays a lovely, subtle through pass to Lukaku, who charges from right to left and hits a rising shot from a tight angle that is comfortably patted down by Vorm. Pogba has had a superb game.
72 min Ashley Young is booked for timewasting.
71 min “Kane not looking remotely fit today!” says Nick Parmenter. “Almost like playing with 10 men.”
70 min Spurs have moved Dier into the back four, with Vertonghen at left-back.
69 min A challenge by Dembele on Alexis Sanchez leads to a full and frank exchange of views by the players on both sides. He put his arm across Sanchez’s face but I don’t think it was a deliberate elbow and there’s no card.
Updated
68 min Spurs make their first change, with Lucas Moura replacing Ben Davies.
65 min Pogba angles a fine pass over the top to Lukaku, who is one against one with Vertonghen in the inside-right channel. He comes infield onto his left foot and drives a low shot just wide of the near post. Vorm had it covered.
63 min I’m not sure about Vorm’s positioning on the goal but it was a really crisp connection from Herrera.
Updated
GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Herrera 62)
United take the lead! Alexis Sanchez’s pass was miscontrolled by Lukaku on the edge of the area but fell nicely for Herrera, who charged onto the scene and whistled a low first-time shot under Vorm from 15 yards. That’s a nice finish.
Updated
59 min After a slow start, the second half is warming up nicely.
Updated
58 min Alli plays a sweet first-time pass through to Kane in the area. He works the ball onto his left foot and hits a shot that deflected behind off Smalling. Good defending.
57 min Trippier lobs a good pass infield to Eriksen, who belts a superb cross that flashes across the face of goal.
56 min Herrera’s sharp cutback finds Lingard, who mis-hits a first-time shot from 12 yards. That was a decent chance.
56 min The game is much less open than it was in the first half. I suspect both managers spent half-time telling their teams to stop playing silly buggers.
55 min “I know that, in many ways, he’s a wonderful footballer,” begins Adam Roberts, “but Dele Alli is a ****, isn’t he?”
I think he’s great. I love ball players with a snide side - Alli, Bergkamp, Van Persie and the rest.
54 min “Lukaku is invisible and slow at it,” says Geertjan Wielenga. “Bring on Rashford.”
53 min Alexis Sanchez scoops a pass into the area towards Lingard, who goes over after a slight nudge from Vertonghen. It probably wasn’t enough to warrant a penalty.
52 min It’s been a quiet, scruffy start to the second half.
51 min “One of the Fox commentators just said that Spurs have to win something because when they concede they go flat,” says Ron Stack. “I take this to mean that they lose confidence, and too easily let games slip away. At first blush that seems a facile comment, but the more I think about it the more sense it makes. What do you think?”
I think that’s a bit harsh. They’ve had some brilliant comebacks under Pochettino. But there is a slightly mysterious psychological barrier that can affect them in big games. Winning any trophy, even the Anglo-Scottish Cup, would help.
50 min Alli gives the ball away to Lingard, compounds the error with a naughty tackle and is booked.
47 min “Ander Herrera just has one of those faces, doesn’t he?” says Scott Oliver. “He’s the sneering school bully in the American high school comedy-drama, the dutiful young Lieutenant-Colonel diligently doing the dirty work for a newly installed Latin American military junta, the snitch, the pr1ck in the pub. Thus the perfect Mourinho foot soldier, in many ways.”
I prefer to accentuate the positive. Look at the damage he’s doing to national stereotypes.
Updated
46 min Peep peep! Spurs begin the second half.
Half-time chit chat “I don’t know if you’re seeing the same thing, but on the international feed we keep getting shots of a fan, presumably a Spurs supporter given he’s surrounded by others wearing white, dressed in a bright red t-shirt that says ‘ARTHRITIS RESEARCH’,” says Jerry Parks. “Despite the quality of this game I am strangely preoccupied with this fellow: did he not realize the opposing team wears, is famed for, their red shirts? Is arthritis of all ailments really the most pressing area for medical research? Is this all a stealth marketing campaign of some sort?”
Never mind that. What I want to know is: who is Jim Ramsey?
Half-time pluggery
Updated
Half time: Manchester United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
That was an excellent 45 minutes. Spurs started the half well and took the lead through Dele Alli; United ended the half well after equalising through Alexis Sanchez. The scoreline is fair, and the second half should be a belter.
45+2 min Dier’s long-range shot takes a deflection and rattles off the post! De Gea didn’t even move. It was a sweet strike from Dier and took a touch off the rump of Smalling before arrowing towards the bottom corner. Happily for United, it hit the outside of the post.
Updated
44 min Pogba hits a big curling shot from 25 yards that is tipped wide by the diving Vorm. It was a relatively comfortable save.
43 min Lukaku, found by Alexis Sanchez, hoofs a low shot from 20 yards that is blocked by Davies. He looked a bit cumbersome, as he has for much of the half. All United’s threat has been through Pogba and Sanchez.
42 min United break through Pogba, who plays a fine angled pass to Herrera just outside the box on the right. He slips in the act of crossing but the ball still almost sneaks through to Alexis Sanchez, with Davinson Sanchez making an important clearance. Herrera is then lucky not to be booked for a deliberate play-breaking foul on Vertonghen.
42 min Eriksen clips a nice pass into space for Son, who overruns it slightly but still manages to win a corner off Smalling. Eriksen swings into the warm bosom of De Gea.
41 min Possessionwatch: Manchester United 50-50 Tottenham Hotspur. It’s been a Spandex-tight first half.
39 min Kane tries unsuccessfully to lob De Gea from inside his own half. Know your limits, Harry; you’re not Charlie Adam.
37 min A beautiful pass over the top by Eriksen is volleyed into orbit by Son. No matter, he was miles offside.
Updated
36 min Son is fouled down the right by Pogba, who for some reason starts applauding. Bit weird. Eriksen’s free kick is unusually poor and cleared by Young.
34 min Eriksen dummies to shoot and plays it wide to Tripper in loads of space on the right edge of the box. His first touch isn’t great and by the time he gets the cross in United have enough men around to clear.
33 min Kane is fouled 30 yards from goal by Herrera...
31 min Alexis Sanchez and Pogba, who keeps pulling to the left, are threatening to overrun Trippier. Pogba has been superb in the last 10 minutes.
30 min The game has been much more even since United equalised. In fact, it’s turning into a potential classic.
28 min Son is booked for a hack at Alexis Sanchez.
27 min Another chance for United! Lukaku’s cross finds Lingard on the six-yard line, but he mistimes his jump and heads the ball straight up in the air.
27 min Valencia is booked for a bad tackle on Alli. It was two-footed, so some referees might have sent him off, though I think it looked worse in slow motion.
Updated
26 min As with Eriksen’s ball for Alli’s goal, it was as much a pass as a cross by Pogba. It was majestic.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (A Sanchez 24)
United equalise with a fine goal! Pogba, at fault for the first goal, made this one brilliantly. He muscled Dembele off the ball on the left wing, moved infield and coaxed the most magnificent curling cross towards the far post. Sanchez got between Davies and Vertonghen to steer an excellent header back across goal. That’s his sixth goal in five FA Cup games at Wembley.
Updated
21 min United are in danger of being swamped before half-time. They started pretty well but have been all over the show since the goal.
19 min Eriksen, who is having a blinder, combines with Kane to release Son on the left. He’s one on one with the last man Valencia, who does very well to stay on his feet and block Son’s shot.
Updated
18 min The look on Mourinho’s coupon is absolutely murderous.
17 min Another chance for Spurs! Alli plays a fine pass into Kane, who eschews the shot and instead tees up Eriksen 15 yards out. He screws a bobbling shot fractionally wide of the far post. De Gea wouldn’t have got to it had it been on target.
Updated
17 min This is an excellent spell for Spurs, whose passing has a lovely rhythm to it. Son’s fierce low cross to the near post is brilliantly intercepted by Phil Jones, who just managed to get in front of Alli. Had he not done so it would have been 2-0. Mourinho is already waving furiously at his players.
14 min Son’s deep cross from the left just evades the stretching Kane in front of goal. That was almost 2-0.
14 min Trippier nutmegs Pogba, to the delight of the Spurs fans. Their team look really sharp with the ball, if not quite so good without it. It’s a very open game.
12 min Lingard appeals for a penalty when the ball bounces off the arm of Davinson Sanchez. He wasn’t even looking at the ball so I don’t think you could say it was deliberate.
12 min United’s defending was pretty poor for the goal. Young went AWOL and Pogba couldn’t be bothered to chase back after Eriksen.
GOAL! Man Utd 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Alli 11)
Spurs take the lead with a simple goal. Eriksen runs onto a long punt down the right by Sanchez and swings a terrific low pass/cross to the far post. It bounces up perfectly for Alli, who arrives late and steers it into the empty net.
Updated
10 min Lukaku misses a good chance, heading Matic’s cross over from 10 yards. He had pulled onto Davies, who had no chance of beating him in the air, but the header was a poor one.
7 min Herrera’s superb pass down the inside-right channel finds Lingard, who picks the wrong option and has his cross put behind for a corner by Vertonghen.
5 min Now United win their first corner, with Trippier heading Herrera’s corner behind. This has been a really bright start to the game. Sanchez’s corner from the left is cleared at the near post by Dembele.
4 min That was a sore one for Sanchez, with Tripper plunging his studs into the left achilles. I’m not sure how deliberate it was; I do know it looked bloody painful. Sanchez seems fine now though.
3 min Sanchez is down injured, holding his left leg. Spurs play on; they have started really confidently.
1 min Kane wins a corner after 20 seconds with a deflected long-range shot. Davies’s outswinger is half cleared to Eriksen, who slides a lovely ball into Son in the area. His low cross is blocked by Valencia and goes behind for another corner. This one comes to nothing.
1 min Peep peep! Manchester United get the match under way, kicking from the right to left on the television screen.
The players are in the tunnel. Let’s watch some association football.
Hereeeeee’s Jose “The game against Spurs started 1-0 in the league (when United conceded after 11 seconds). I hope this starts 0-0 and we can go from there.”
Updated
Mauricio Pochettino speaks! “We are going to play an amazing final (sic), with the possibility of going through to the final. Michel Vorm deserves to play. We are fully confident in him. I don’t think we have a home advantage - we are in a different changing-room and the support will be 50/50.”
“Let’s see if I have this straight,” says J. R. “Mr. Lewis admits that Mourinho doesn’t know his best team or formation and has a crap record in the transfer market and this adds up to the conclusion that “Mourinho has done well”? (And he didn’t even mention Mourinho’s capability to make great players terrible. Maybe that’s implied.) I can’t imagine United playing any worse with the squad they’ve got.”
They are above the media darlings Spurs and Liverpool in the league and won trophies last season; hence the doing of well.
The 3pm games are coming to a close around the country. You can get the latest with John Brewin.
Podcast plug Nessun Dorma, the podcast devoted to 1980s and 1990s football, returns this Tuesday with a special episode about Manchester United’s first title under Sir Alex Ferguson. You can subscribe here, if that’s what you want to do.
A Man Utd fan on Wembley way has seized the mic from the Jesus preacher who stands in that place every week and is singing ooh ah Cantona into it. Weirdly disturbing scene
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) April 21, 2018
When Spurs reach an FA Cup semi-final, we are contractually obliged to link to this clip of Gazza at his glorious best.
An email!
“Afternoon Rob,” says Jonny Lewis. “Mourinho has done well and improved us, but realistically, he won’t do more than two more seasons at United - max. Does he have it in him to make the leap to city’s level in that time? Also, will he want to hang around and watch Guardiola clean up?
“I question whether he knows his best team and formation and also his record in the transfer market. Unfortunately, every signing has to work as we are playing catch up from Fergie’s last few years - they definitely haven’t. Lastly, I wish he would look like he is enjoying it more - pre-Madrid was a more fun Mourinho.”
I suspect you’re right, but don’t you think that at least in theory he’d like to stay at United for a decade? I always thought that was his plan – affairs all around Europe, a happy marriage to United in his fifties and then a spell as Portugal manager before retirement.
Updated
Manchester United have some extremely happy FA Cup semi-final memories - not least the greatest game I’ve ever seen, against Arsenal in 1999. That, and much else, is revisited in a superb documentary to be be broadcast on Monday night. I was lucky to see a preview, and it is gold.
There are no surprises in either side. Michel Vorm, who has started every FA Cup match this season for Spurs, comes in for Hugo Lloris. United’s team is as expected, even if plenty would have preferred to see big-game specialist Marcus Rashford and/or Anthony Martial in the starting XI.
Updated
Team news
Manchester United (4-3-3) De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Young; Herrera, Matic, Pogba; Lingard, Lukaku, Sanchez.
Substitutes: Rashford, J Pereira, Darmian, Lindelof, Fellaini, Mata, Martial.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1) Vorm; Trippier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Dembele; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Kane.
Substitutes: Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Wanyama, Sissoko, Lamela, Lucas.
Referee Anthony Taylor.
Preamble
Now this, my dear friends, is an FA Cup semi-final. Two of the three most successful teams in the competition’s history, both desperate to win a trophy for different reasons, each with contrasting public perceptions and styles.
In a sense this is the dreamer versus the winner. Spurs, for all their charming football under Mauricio Pochettino, haven’t won a trophy since 2008. United won two last year, and their results have improved enormously under Jose Mourinho. But their style of play - and their strange propensity to have an absolute shocker every few weeks – has left Mourinho on the back foot for most of the season, waving his CV in everyone’s face.
To Mourinho, prizes will always make points. He has won 25 to Pochettino’s none. Yet the common perception is that Mourinho the past and Pochettino the future, and this is such a good opportunity for Pochettino to win his first trophy.
Spurs have home advantage of sorts tonight, and again in the final if they get there. The winners will play Chelsea or Southampton. With extra-time and penalties available, this could be a long night.
Kick off is at 5.15pm.
Updated
