Thomas Hein
Manchester United travelled to take on Blackburn Rovers for a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Rovers weren’t doing all that well in the Championship but have been good against the big teams and were up for it against the Premier League side.
It was Blackburn who took the lead through Danny Graham but United restored parity thanks to Marcus Rashford. The away side dominated possession but it was an even game for most of the night before Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the winning goal, his first in the FA Cup.
There were some heroes for United and we rate the players from the away side after the win.
Sergio Romero – 7/10
The Argentine couldn’t really do much to stop the goal he conceded but he almost cost United the win after he spilled a late shot from the impressive Mahoney.
Ashley Young – 6.5/10
Young did not look all that comfortable in the game throughout and was also booked in the second half for a poor challenge.
Chris Smalling – 7/10
The Englishman did alright in the game and did well to keep most of what Blackburn threw at him at bay.
Marcos Rojo – 7/10
Rojo and Smalling didn’t look all that bad playing together, and did extremely well with all the balls played into the box from the home side.
Matteo Darmian – 6/10
Darmian had a torrid night, especially when Mahoney came on and the young Blackburn player tore the Italian to pieces in the second half.
Ander Herrera – 6.5/10
Shoot on sight was the order for Herrera as he tried to score from almost every position on the pitch.
Michael Carrick – 6/10
Carrick was another United player that had a poor game and looked like he needed a bit of rest.
Jesse Lingard – 5.5/10
Lingard was poor in the game and was replaced by Paul Pogba after 62 minutes on the board.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 7/10
The former Borussia Dortmund player delivered a peach of a ball to Rashford to unlock the Blackburn defence. A decent game from the summer signing.
Anthony Martial – 6.5/10
Martial might have a lot of pace but he didn’t really do much to trouble the Blackburn defence enough and was yanked off in the second half by Mourinho.
Marcus Rashford – 7/10
The Englishman got United back in the game with a great finish in the first half but didn’t really do much in the rest of the game. He was brought off for Juan Mata in the dying minutes of the game.
Substitutes
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 7/10
Zlatan is simply irresistible and took his chance with great skill and a great finish as well.
Paul Pogba – 7/10
The French midfielder provided the assist for Zlatan and seems to be forming the right kind of partnership with the Swede.
Juan Mata – NA
Mata was brought on the pitch for just a few minutes.
