Marcel Sabitzer: My first goal was massive!

Sabitzer joined United on transfer deadline day in January, on loan from German champions Bayern Munich until the end of the season.

He has now made nine appearances for Erik ten Hag’s side and played an integral part in securing what will be a second visit to Wembley for him already.

The Austrian manged to evade the Fulham defence to cleverly flick the ball past Bernd Leno in the Fulham goal from a well-worked Luke Shaw cross to open his goalscoring account for United.

Speaking to ITV and MUTV after the game, United’s on-loan midfielder summed up how he felt as he wheeled away towards the Stretford End with pure delight.

“I was overwhelmed. I was looking for it: scoring the first at Old Trafford in front of these amazing fans,” said Marcel. “And that important one, at 2-1 it was a massive one. I am very happy at the moment. I couldn’t reach it with the right foot, so I was just trying to hit it with the left foot and it worked out.”

“It's massive win,” he continued. “We wanted to go back to Wembley, we did it. 1-0 down was tough, but we come back and it was a good one.”

Aleksandar Mitrovic put Fulham 1-0 up, before Willian was sent off for blocking Jadon Sancho’s shot on the line with his hand. As the Brazilian received his marching orders, Mitrovic and manager Marco Silva were also ejected for descent, putting the Cottagers down to nine men.

Bruno Fernandes’s resulting penalty began the comeback before Sabitzer's goal gave the Reds the lead. Fernandes would cap off the afternoon with a last-minute strike to make the game 3-1 and punched United’s ticket to Wembley to face Brighton and Hove Albion in the semi-finals.

Sabitzer added that he was proud of United’s team spirit throughout the tie, especially in our belief that we would get the win:

“I think we played a good first half. We had some chances, missed it. But after the half time, we came out and conceded a goal and that is not what we wanted. So we know at this time it was going to be tough and hard. But, we still believed it and we had good team spirit and mentality that you can always see on the pitch. The fans were amazing and pushed us forward and were very happy we did it.

“To be fair, I have to say to be two man down for Fulham, it wasn’t easy. So it was a little easier for us. But we have a good team spirit, a good group of guys. You can see and feel it in the dressing room, on the pitch, off the pitch. We worked together, close. We stick together all the time. We were very happy about it.”

United’s clash with Brighton will be the second time this season Sabitzer and the Reds have travelled to Wembley, having already won the Carabao Cup in February against Newcastle United.

With the prospect of another trophy on the horizon, Sabitzer declared he is prepared for another clash in the capital.

“As I said, before the game we were very focused to go back to Wembley and we did it. We know we are going to face a tough opponent, strong opponent. But we will prepare well for it and we will be ready to go to the final.

“We will go there and win it and bring it on.”