N’Golo Kante’s stunning second-half strike saw Chelsea eliminate Emirates FA Cup holders Manchester United to reach the semi-finals.
The midfielder shuffled the ball out of his feet five minutes into the second half, picking his spot to expertly fire past a helpless David de Gea, who had otherwise looked unbeatable at Stamford Bridge.
The visitors had been reduced to 10 men after two first-half bookings for Ander Herrera, though they were still in the contest until the final whistle as England international Marcus Rashford forced a smart stop from Thibaut Courtois.
“We’ve kept the momentum going, a change from playing in the league,” said Chelsea captain Gary Cahill.
“I thought we dug in, gave a good account of ourselves and it was a professional performance from everyone.
“We controlled the game when we needed to and it’s job done. It was a tough game for us and the red card may have turned the game in our favour.
“N’Golo has been fantastic. The performance level is right up there. We saw what he did with Leicester City last season, and now he’s come here and kicked on again.
“He’s such a humble guy off the pitch, works hard and helps us out so much at the back, he’s a tremendous addition to our squad.”
The hosts looked in control in the first half, but could find no way past de Gea who pushed a low Eden Hazard drive around the post and then blocked Cahill’s effort from the subsequent corner.
The tie turned when Herrera saw red in the 38th minute for a trip on Hazard and a moment of magic from Kante ultimately settled matters. The diminutive midfielder scoring his second goal in Blues colours from 20 yards – with his first also against Jose Mourinho’s side.
Rashford ensured the Red Devils were not going to give up without a fight, turning in and outside of Cahill before getting a sight of Courtois’s goal. But the big Belgium stopper made a fantastic save with his feet to keep his side ahead with half-an-hour to play.
That proved to be the best chance United would force, with Diego Costa missing a point-blank header from close range and Willian curling narrowly over the bar as Chelsea closed out an enthralling game.
Chelsea:13 Thibaut Courtois; 28 Cesar Azpilicueta, 24 Gary Cahill, 30 David Luiz; 15 Victor Moses, 7 N’Golo Kante, 21 Nemanja Matic, 3 Marcos Alonso; 22 Willian, 19 Diego Costa, 10 Eden Hazard
Substitutes: 4 Cesc Fabregas for Willian 81, 5 Kurt Zouma for Moses 89, 23 Michy Batshuayi for Costa 90+4
Substitutes not used: 1 Asmir Begovic, 11 Pedro, 26 John Terry, 29 Nathaniel Chalobah
Goal: Kante 51
Manager: Antonio Conte
Manchester United: 1 David de Gea; 25 Antonio Valencia, 12 Chris Smalling, 5 Marcus Rojo, 26 Matteo Darmian; 21 Ander Herrera, 4 Phil Jones; 18 Ashley Young, 6 Paul Pogba, 22 Henrikh Mkhitaryan; 19 Marcus Rashford
Substitutes: 27 Marouane Fellaini for Mkhitaryan 37, 14 Jesse Lingard for Young 81
Substitutes not used: 20 Sergio Romero, 3 Eric Bailly, 8 Juan Mata, 16 Michael Carrick, 17 Daley Blind
Manager: Jose Mourinho
Referee: Michael Oliver
Attendance: 40,801
