Islamabad: Wolves, elegant and fierce, advanced to the FA Cup semi-final for the first time in 21 years and Manchester United could do nothing to stop them. First Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men were frustrated by their hosts, then they were taken apart. Goals from Raúl Jiménez and Diogo Jota confirmed Wolves’ superiority over their illustrious visitors.
Marcus Rashford’s strike in stoppage time changed nothing other than inconsequential statistics, halving Wolves’ margin of victory and doubling United’s tally of shots on target from a match in which they had a lot of the ball but were never in control. Wolves created the clearest opportunities and might have inflicted a truly embarrassing scoreline if not for some terrific saves by United’s goalkeeper Sergio Romero.
Solskjær said this was United’s worst performance on his watch. “We lacked urgency and quality on the ball,” he said. He was right to add “but don’t take anything away from Wolves”, because Nuno Espírito Santo’s team were excellent. This was the latest in a series of fine displays that makes it hard to believe the men from Molineux were in the second tier this time last year.
