Man Utd FA Cup progress had Lineker recalling “one of worst days of my life”

23 April 2023 , 23:00

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Man Utd FA Cup progress had Lineker recalling “one of worst days of my life”

Gary Lineker has recalled how Everton’s 1986 FA Cup final defeat to Merseyside rivals Liverpool led to “one of the worst days of my life”.

Lineker was speaking after Manchester United beat Brighton in their FA Cup semi-final on Sunday to set up a mouth-watering final against Manchester City in June. It will be the first time ever that there has been a Manchester derby in the showpiece of the competition.

Lineker opened the scoring for Everton in the 1986 against the red half of Manchester, but league winners Liverpool roared back in the game with three unanswered second half goals. Ian Rush netted a double either side of Craig Johnston’s goal for Kenny Dalglish’s side.

That meant that the Reds secured the league and cup final that year, capped in particularly memorable style for the club as it was clinched with victory over their city rivals. But Lineker has now reflected how it led to a painful day for him and the Toffees.

“You never want to lose a final, but when it is against your rivals it makes it even worse,” Lineker said on BBC Sport during Sunday’s coverage. “I managed to play in the first ever all-Merseyside final in 1986 (for Everton), by which point Liverpool had already won the league.

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“We lost the final as well, but it had already been organised that there would be an open-top bus ride around the city for both teams. So Liverpool had the league trophy and the FA Cup to show while we were in the bus behind without a trophy.”

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BBC pundit Alan Shearer than enquired why all the Everton players agreed to do it, to which Lineker responded: “Everyone did it. Peter Reid walked off actually, and I should have done the same.

“You can imagine what it was like, they were on top of their bus waving trophies and we were hiding behind the window. I thought I should share that, as it was one of the worst days of my life!”

United’s dream of a treble of cup competitions this season may be over but having landed the club’s first piece of silverware in six years with their EFL Cup success in February, the Red Devils have enjoyed their football at Wembley this campaign and will return for the final in June.

Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag said on the possibility of stopping finalists Manchester City winning the treble (of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League ), which would replicate United’s infamous 1999 success: "I understand the feeling from the Man United fans about it. We will do everything to give them that. We will give everything, then it is everything. More than 100 per cent you can't do. The fans can rely on that."

Colin Millar