United's Man of the Match v Coventry

Monday 22 April 2024 11:45

Bruno Fernandes has been picked by the Manchester United supporters as our Man of the Match in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final victory over Coventry City.

It was the Reds captain’s corner that was headed home by Harry Maguire just prior to half-time, to make it 2-0, before the skipper got on the scoresheet himself after the interval with our third goal in the eventual 3-3 draw across 90 minutes.

At the end of extra-time, the exhilarating encounter was settled by a penalty shootout, with Fernandes also stepping up to convert his spot-kick in our 4-2 success.

The midfielder – who also won the Emirates FA Cup’s official Player of the Match award – was busy throughout the afternoon at Wembley Stadium, and particularly influential as United crafted out a 3-0 lead.

He knocked down Andre Onana’s launched ball forward to tee up the first significant chance of the game for Alejandro Garnacho, but the Argentina international could not quite establish a proper contact on his one-on-one attempt.

Later in the first half, it was his own long pass down the right flank that set Diogo Dalot away to find Marcus Rashford, whose powerful effort forced a tip over from Sky Blues goalkeeper Bradley Collins. That save resulted in the corner from which Maguire would double our advantage, after Scott McTominay's opener.

Fernandes went close to finding the net with a curling shot early in the second half, but did get among the goals in back-to-back Wembley appearances – having scored in last year’s FA Cup final against Manchester City – when his deflected finish crept into the Coventry net just before the hour mark.

Our captain was unlucky not to double his tally for the day in extra-time, when his venomous strike hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down, but he did find the target again later in the proceedings, when he placed home our fourth penalty in the eventual shootout.

Bruno’s contributions in the semi-final were recognised by the majority of supporters who voted in our official Man of the Match poll on ManUtd.com and in the United App, with our no.8 receiving 37 per cent of the vote. 

Andre Onana, whose shootout save to deny Callum O’Hare’s penalty was the highlight of another important individual performance from the Cameroonian goalkeeper, accumulated 23 per cent of fans’ picks to finish as runner-up.

Harry Maguire polled just behind Onana at 18 per cent, coming third, following a display in which he scored his first Wembley goal for the club.

Thank you to everyone who voted.

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