Late Alejandro Garnacho finish sees Manchester United into the FA Cup quarter-final

Manchester United have graduated into the quarter-final of the FA Cup after Alejandro Garnacho and Fred scored late goals to grab Erik ten Hag yet another Old Trafford victory.

Erik ten Hag opted the make six changes for the fixture, with the likes of Marcel Sabitzer, Harry Maguire and Alejandro Garnacho in the starting XI for Manchester United.

After a brilliant Carabao Cup final win on the weekend, the trophy was presented to those at Old Trafford by Bruno Fernandes and Maguire.

Casemiro and Mary Earps were also given time to present their recent FIFA awards, winning a place in the World XI and Female Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively. David de Gea was presented with an honorary golden glove by Sir Alex Ferguson after breaking United’s clean sheet record.

The match started quickly, with Alphonse Areola denying Sabitzer an early goal after some neat work by Wout Weghorst.

In general, the opening 15 minutes felt very settled, with Ten Hag’s men seemingly in control of the early moments of the tie.

It was Sabitzer who really shone through for United in the opening quarter of the 90 minutes, but Michael Antonio was handed a golden opportunity at 23 minutes to open the scoring.

After Saïd Benrahma played a perfect ball to send Antonio through on goal, he seemed to take an age to line up his shot, which gave De Ge enough time to come off his line, close down the relevant angels, and save without too much fuss.

The game started to open up a lot more after that, with Maguire picking up a yellow card for a foul on Antonio on the halfway line. Antony tried to grow into the game more, attempting one of his signature cut-in and shoot tricks – but to no avail, with the ball flying high and wide.

With 30 minutes on the clock, West Ham had grown into the game – Scott McTominay picked up a yellow card for a similar foul to one Maguire had made 10 minutes prior.

United really didn’t create any significant chances in the opening 45 minutes; it was West Ham who had the more clear-cut moments, but nothing that troubled De Gea too significantly.

“No intensity, very sloppy, just going through the motions. Nowhere near good enough,” was Roy Keane’s analysis of United in the first half – and he was not far off at all. At half time, Erik ten Hag saw it fit to make one change, with Casemiro on for McTominay.

Not to move avail though, because it was West Ham to took the lead early in the second half, with Behrahma smashing the ball past David de Gea and going 1-0 up at Old Trafford. There was an almost instant response from Ten Hag, with Marcus Rashford and Lisandro Martinez for Antony and Victor Lindelof.

Immediately, United dominated the fixture, although the attacks felt somewhat rushed. Casemiro had the ball in the back of the net, however, the goal was ruled out for offside, much to the dismay of United.

Finally, after 20 minutes of constant pressure, United had their breakthrough, with Nayef Aguerd turning in a Bruno Fernandes corner. Fred came on for Sabitzer with five minutes remaining, and the fixture looking like it would go into extra time… Until Alejandro Garnacho had his say.

Bringing the ball down after Weghorst’s initial shot went flying in the air, he took his time, cut inside and banded the ball spectacularly into the bottom right-hand corner to send United into the FA Cup quarter-finals.

For good measure, Fred added a final goal in the dying seconds to finish the fixture off for a 3-1 victory in the name of Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils.