Alexis Sanchez’s brace was enough to send Arsenal through to their second-successive FA Cup final in a thrilling 2-1 extra-time win over Championship side Reading. The Gunners were sluggish at the start and were lucky to go into the break with a lead courtesy of a sublime pass from Mesut Ozil, which was finished off expertly by Sanchez. Reading, however, didn’t sit back and Garath McCleary made 1-1 just before the hour mark and the Royals were right back into the game.
The Gunners, however, pushed on from then and hit the post not once, but twice before the end of normal time. First it was Gabriel, whose header was saved onto the post by Adam Federici, then it was Aaron Ramsey. There was still time for Reading to miss a glorious opportunity to win the game before Federici’s blunder in extra-time cost the Royals the game. Instead it will be the Gunners who will take on either Aston Villa or Liverpool in their bid to secure a record 12th FA Cup.
Here are the major talking points from the game.
A game littered with mistakes
Much of the headlines will be dedicated towards goalkeeper Adam Federici, who gifted the Gunners a goal in extra-time as he let a straightforward shot from Sanchez go through him. But the truth is that, he wasn’t the only one, who made a mistake in the semi-final on Saturday. In fact, the Royals shot-stopper had been brilliant until his mistake and was one of the reasons why the match went into extra-time. Somewhat surprisingly, the first costly error of the game, came from his opposite number, Wojciech Szczesny, who should have done better with the McCleary shot that levelled the scores.
Then it was two Arsenal players, who failed to take their chances. First it was Gabriel, who missed an absolute sitter from a few yards out after previously hitting the post from another Mesut Ozil set-piece. In the dying minutes of normal time, it was Ramsey’s turn to mess up an easy opportunity after being sent clear by Olivier Giroud. First, he hit the keeper, then hit the post, when it looked easier to score on both occasions. There was still time for Reading striker Pavel Pogrebnyak to fluff his lines in a two-on-one before the full-time whistle. But, unfortunately for the Royals, all of those earlier mistakes pales into insignificance because it was the Australian keeper’s error which cost them a shot at their first FA Cup final.