Manchester United advanced to the finals of the FA Cup after defeating Brighton 6-5 on Penalties on Sunday at Wembley. The Red Devils will now face their bitter rivals Manchester City on June 3 for the finals at Wembley. This is going to be the first Manchester Derby FA Cup finals.
Manchester United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has earned applause from pundits and football fans after his impressive defensive display against Brighton especially stopping Brighton forward Kaoru Mitoma. The Japanese international has been one of the revelations of the season and had been taking on defenders for a fan.
Kaoru Mitoma has scored 10 goals and provided 7 assists in 31 Premier League appearances this season. But the Brighton star could not dribble past Aaron Wan-Bissaka during the game.
Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand believes Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s display against Brighton shows he was as good as everyone during the game.
What did Rio Ferdinand say?
He revealed on his YouTube channel, vibe with Five: “I think Wan-Bissaka for me [was the stand-out player].
“Mitoma has been the find of the season for me, he has given every team they have played against huge problems.
“And to be fair to Wan-Bissaka, he put the shackles on him. And we all know how good defensively one vs one Wan-Bissaka is and today he proved again he can handle top class players in good form. When it is me against you, he is as good as anyone out there.”
Meanwhile, David De Gea claims Manchester United’s display against Brighton shows they are ready to face Manchester City.
He told BBC One after the game: “There is still a long way to go to the final, it will be a big game against one of the best teams in Europe, in the world.
“We showed already when we played against them at home that we can beat them.
“There is a long time until the final, we have to finish in the top four first and then go and give everything in the final.
“It was a very tight game we played a very good team.
“Brighton plays really good football. We are now in the final but we have another big game on Thursday so we need to go home and recover.
“They take great penalties, we take great penalties as always. I tried to put pressure on the takers, they put it away but the team took perfect penalties.”
Manchester United will face Tottenham on Thursday. A win could boost their chance of a top four finish.