Mac Allister’s last-gasp penalty ensures Brighton sink Manchester United

The Manchester United supporters were keen to remind everybody just who was going to Wembley for the FA Cup final. Their club’s victory over Brighton in the semi-final on the Sunday before last had framed this Premier League rematch. Brighton’s script involved revenge because it had been a brutally hard defeat after that sudden death penalty shoot-out.

It was a helter-skelter game – again. Both teams played the way that they wanted to play; Brighton with their razor sharp pass-and-move, shapes shifting constantly, United punching hard on the transitions.

There were big chances at both ends, fine saves from the goalkeepers, especially Brighton’s Jason Steele, vehement protests against the decisions of the referee, Andre Marriner, and the sense that you could not take your eyes off any part of the field.

And at the very last, there was the breakthrough, the one that Brighton had craved, which they thought might elude them. There was chaos in the United area after a corner, David De Gea finishing by pushing away a Moises Caicedo shot. But then Marriner was alerted by the VAR to a possible handball by Luke Shaw. Penalty, Roberto De Zerbi, the Brighton manager, could not watch. But up stepped Alexis Mac Allister to score. It was some finale to a breathless evening.”

It was difficult to ignore the pay-back plot line despite De Zerbi’s comment in his programme notes that Wembley had been “far from our thoughts.” On the next page, the Brighton chief executive, Paul Barber, wrote of having “an early opportunity to avenge” the semi-final. It felt like a more accurate mood reflector.

The Wembley game was a classic, despite the lack of goals. The requirement for penalties then elevated the spectacle. It was fast and furious here as