Striker Amad Diallo recreated superstar Lionel Messi’s famous celebration when scoring to help Man Utd defeat Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
After an angled shot defeated goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher in the last minute of the second extra time, Manchester United striker Amad Diallo could not hide his emotions and boldly celebrated . The 21-year-old player took off his jersey in celebration and turned towards the home fans. After this “crazy” moment, the Ivory Coast player was sent off by the referee with a second yellow card because he had previously received a yellow card in the 116th minute.
Diallo’s celebration was compared to superstar Lionel Messi, who did something similar to what the Ivory Coast player did in the match against Liverpool. Specifically, in the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the 2016/2017 season, Lionel Messi “destroyed” Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with the deciding goal to help his team win. The Argentinian player’s subsequent celebration was forever remembered when he took off his shirt and turned towards Real fans, thereby showing this player’s class.
Diallo’s strike became the latest decisive goal in any FA Cup match (120 minutes, 7 seconds) since the match between West Ham and Kidderminster Harriers in February 2022 (120 minutes 48 seconds) . Before that, Liverpool was also the victim of another late goal in the match against West Ham (120 minutes 30 seconds). For Diallo personally, this is only the second official goal the Ivory Coast player has scored for Man Utd since joining the Old Trafford team in October 2020.
In an interview after the match, Diallo called it the best goal of his career but expressed regret about the red card. The 21-year-old said: “It was the best goal of my life, it was a really important moment. I was very disappointed to be sent off, but the important thing was to win for the team. Beating Liverpool was an important moment for me.”
Before Diallo’s decisive goal, Man Utd and Liverpool created an extremely intense score chase. The away team Liverpool took the lead twice, but with the will to not give up, coach Erik ten Hag’s team excellently came back with a score of 4-3, thereby moving on to the FA Cup semi-finals. They will face Coventry Club in the semi-finals on April 20 at Wembley Stadium.
