Louis van Gaal was understandably delighted by Manchester United’s late winner against Everton but still found time to criticise the referee, Anthony Taylor.
The United manager told the BBC: “It’s fantastic. When you see the joy in the eyes of the players it is fantastic to see but also for the fans. I think we deserved to go to the final. I think the referee… we didn’t have any fouls in our benefit. He changed the match I think. We had so many chances. We could have finished it much better.
“Everton came in the match because they get all the fouls. And then the fans of Everton were cheering. In the first half – no [they weren’t]. The referees are deciding the game and not the players any more.”
Taylor had awarded Everton a penalty at 1-0 down but Romelu Lukaku’s effort was saved by David de Gea. The United goalkeeper said: “The penalty save was a key moment, Everton played really well, they had some chances. We are very happy.”
Everton did then equalise through a Chris Smalling own goal, before Anthony Martial gave United victory in added time. The goalkeeper said of the match winner: “In one second, one action he scored a goal, he is unbelievable. For the fans the club, we have more games in the league, we want to finish in the top four and that’s what we want.”
Marouane Fellaini, who had opened the scoring against his former club, said: “It was a tough game. Everton asked a lot of questions. But we are in a final which is most important. I’m so happy for me and the club. I was in the final with Everton and now with Man United. I’m so happy for me and for the club.”
Roberto Martínez said: “It is a hard result to take. Over the 90 minutes we at least deserved the right to go into extra time. We were a little sluggish in the first half but we got the equaliser but to concede in injury time is a blow nobody deserved.
“I thought the fight we showed was really strong, a team with incredible togetherness. The support we had behind us was terrific. We coped with the tough period in the first half and we were strong mentality to cope.”
The Everton manager, under pressure over poor recent results, contrasted the performance with the 4-0 defeat at Liverpool on Wednesday. Martínez said: “There was no comparison between today and Anfield. Everything that goes wrong can go wrong but today was the opposite. We reacted with an incredible fight and togetherness. The performance was a typical Everton response.”
