Sport & games

He lifted the cup, and was fired 48 hours later

Louis van Gaal's only trophy at Manchester United arrived in extra time at Wembley, and it bought him exactly two days before the sack and José Mourinho's arrival. The match itself kept inverting: Crystal Palace led through a substitute, United equalised within three minutes through a deflection, then played the last stretch a man down after Chris Smalling's dismissal — only for another substitute to settle it from distance. It's a good study in how a result can be both a triumph and an epitaph.

Smalling's red card made him only the fourth player ever sent off in an FA Cup final — and United still won from ten men, with Jesse Lingard's long-range shot finding the top corner.

Read the whole of 2016 FA Cup final on Wikipedia

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