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Man U beats Brighton on penalties to head to FA Cup final

London, Apr 23 (EFE).- A tense penalty shootout after a scoreless draw in regulation plus extra time, was Manchester United’s ticket to the FA Cup final on Sunday, eliminating Brighton & Hove Albion at London’s Wembley Stadium before 81,445 fans.

Man U beat Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton in the sudden death penalty session and will now go head to head in their 21st FA Cup final against their crosstown rivals, Manchester City, coached by Pep Guardiola and last year’s Premier League champs.

It will be the first-ever Manchester-Manchester contest in FA final history.

Before the nailbiting penalty shootout, the match had swung back and forth throughout the 120 minutes of playing time, although neither squad could manage to put together the combination resulting in a game-winning strike.

United netminder David De Gea made a great save on Alexis Mac Allister’s free kick early in the action, and thwarted a shot by Julio Enciso after the break.

With the match hinging on the penalty Russian roulette phase, it took a total of 14 spot-kicks for Erik ten Hag’s United to finally get to 7-6, with Victor Lindelof hitting on the last shot after Solly March finally missed for Brighton.

Manchester City is looking for the title after blanking Sheffield United 3-0 in their semifinal match on Saturday, while Man United wants another trophy after winning the League Cup in February.

Last week, Sevilla trounced United in the Europa League quarterfinals, knocking them out of the contest, but they’ll now have a chance to grab their 13th FA Cup.

Lineups:

Brighton: Sanchez; Gross, Webster, Dunk, Estupiñan; Caicedo, Mac Allister, Enciso (Veltman, m.67); Mitoma, March and Welbeck (Undav, m.75).

Manchester United: Wan-Bissaka (Malacia, m.101), Shaw, Lindelof, Dalot; Casemiro, Eriksen (Fred, m.62), Fernandes (Weghorst, m.101); Antony (Sabitzer, m.91), Martial (Sancho, m.85) and Rashford.

EFE msg/bp

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