N’Golo Kante scored a lovely long-range goal that brought Chelsea victory over United. Chelsea qualify for the next round of the F.A. Cup as they continue to enjoy terrific season.
Manchester United were unable to get anything out of their awaited clash against Chelsea. With a disappointing sixth place in the Premier League, United were looking towards winning the F.A. Cup as consolation for the current season. An early send off from midfielder Ander Herrera tipped the balance in Chelsea’s favor. The London side dominated possession for the rest of the playing time.
N’Golo Kante brought victory for Chelsea against their former manager Jose Mourinho with a beautiful long range effort. Kante told BBC Sport that he was thrilled to score in such an important game.
“I’m happy to score again. I’m happy for the win and for the fans it was a very beautiful win. It was difficult, Manchester is a good team, it was a tough game but we won. When Herrera was sent off, it was more easy. It’s a pleasure to go to the next round, hopefully we can go to the final and see who we are going to play.”
Gary Cahill, Chelsea’s captain, praised Kante and talked about his progress as a player this season. Kante was part of the Leicester squad that won the title in the previous season. “N’Golo has been fantastic. You saw what he did last season but he has kicked on again this season. He is so important, especially to us at the back.”
Elsewhere, manager Jose Mourinho feels his team was unlucky to lose today. Mourinho commented on the referee’s decision to send off Ander Herrera following a second yellow card. He feels the referee’s decisions were less harsh with the opposition.
“I just want to say that I’m really proud of my payers, proud of the Manchester United fans. We have a very important match on Thursday [against Rostov in the Europa League] and I want to try to rest a little bit to prepare the team the best we can for Thursday’s match and that’s the most important thing.”
“We can analyse different perspectives, everyone can do it in a different way but I think we all watched the match until the red card and after the red card.Then we can compare the decisions of these two yellow cards in this case the second yellow card with other ones that weren’t given.”
“But I don’t want to go in that direction. This season Mr Michael Oliver, he is a referee with fantastic potential, but with Manchester United we are a bit unlucky.In four matches, three penalties and one red card, and [the red card was] in such an early moment of the game. But, again, I cannot change that but I can try to interfere in Thursday’s match,” the manager told BBC Sports.
Antonio Conte’s team moves to the next round and should enjoy good odds of winning both the Premier League and the F.A. Cup this year. On the other hand, Manchester United will focus mostly on securing success in the Europa League. They face FC Rostov in the Round of 16. Elsewhere, in the Premier League they are momentarily in a lowly sixth place.
