Manchester – Manchester United’s desperate season met with fresh degradation on Wednesday as they sensationally lost on penalties to Sunderland in the League Cup semi-finals at Old Trafford.
Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, United levelled the tie through Jonny Evans’s 37th-minute header, only for Phil Bardsley to net a dramatic equaliser late in extra time with a low shot that squirmed past David de Gea.
Improbably, United promptly went straight up to the other end and equalised through Javier Hernandez, for a 3-3 aggregate scoreline that sent the tie to penalties, but it was to prove a false dawn.
An appalling shoot-out saw only three of the 10 penalty-takers score, but United full-back Rafael da Silva proved the fall guy, with Vito Mannone saving his spot-kick to give Sunderland a 2-1 win.
