Brighton 1-0 Manchester United: Alexis Mac Allister smashes home dramatic 99th minute penalty

For a while this was a night to celebrate the rare glory of a fantastic 0-0 draw. No targets, no movement towards where these parties want to be, but a treat of brilliant madness nonetheless. Scoreless would have been fine in those circumstances.

And then, five minutes into stoppage time of a crazy game, there was a reference to the VAR. Luke Shaw seemed to turn a corner and Andre Marriner, who had given Brighton so little all evening, went to the monitor.

The penalty was given. And of course it was.

The crowd clamored for Solly March, whose missed kick in the FA Cup semi-final last month undone a dream. But that would be too neat and probably too much pressure for the winger.

So no, instead it was the Argentinian, Alexis Mac Allister. David De Gea moved to the right. The stairs went left in the top corner.

It won’t take away the pangs of a Wembley semi-final defeat, but it will certainly help.

It will help Brighton in their mission to finish off a fantastic season with European qualification. It will also help Erik ten Hag sharpen his belief that he needs a new striker, and most likely Harry Kane after a night where his side went 16 shots and scored no goals.

But a United win would have been hard on Brighton. They were excellent when they were not fallible. They controlled the game, had the best chances and were a sight to behold. That said, United played their part, but as with so many away games this season, they fell short.

When it was done, Roberto De Zerbi went berserk. He waved like crazy. He has been unwell for the past few days and almost missed this one. Coincidentally, on the mildest evenings he rocked a scarf around his neck and left as if he had done himself more harm than good. Anyway, he had a good time with it.

Returning to one of his stronger configurations, Ten Hag makes four changes to the squad that beat Aston Villa this weekend. That meant gains for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Fred, Antony and Anthony Martial.

The Zerbi made the same number of changes to the XI that slaughtered Wolves 6-0 last weekend. It enabled starts for the crucial trio of Moises Caicedo, Kaoru Mitoma and Mac Allister, as well as 18-year-old playmaker Facundo Buonanotte.

The result of all that tweaking? A gloriously messy opening half with some fine chances and a wonderful battle between Mitoma and Wan-Bissaka.

The first of many great moments came to United within 75 seconds, with the attack getting underway as Danny Welbeck played Billy Gilmour in a tight 50-50 with Bruno Fernandes before the latter, after gaining possession, counter-attacked with a through ball for Antony. One-on-one with Jason Steele, he went just wide.

Moments later, Victor Lindelof failed a pass across his own area to Wan-Bissaka, allowing Mitoma to intercept for a walk on goal. The Japanese winger ignored the opportunity to set Julio Enciso right and blasted straight into De Gea’s face. A missed opportunity and minutes of treatment followed for the keeper.

In the ensuing haze of mistakes and scares, Mitoma sidestepped Wan-Bissaka and missed the target, unsuccessfully appealed for a soft penalty against the same man, and both Mac Allister, Enciso and Buonanotte boomed or curled wide. On the other hand, Marcus Rashford had blocked drives twice and Anthony failed to make good moves.

Both banks were nervous about the inefficiencies, but it was a brilliantly engaging viewing experience, especially the exchanges between Mitoma, one of those revealing buys Brighton so often makes, and Wan-Bissaka, whose resurgence this season has seen him develop into such a reliable, reputable winner of duels. For 45 minutes, Mitoma and Brighton shadowed it with no tangible results.

United? Their approach too often seemed limited to attacking Rashford on the left side and hoping for some individual magic against Caicedo, a midfielder who was rebranded as right-back. The Zerbi was a bit lucky in the first half that such dynamics did not disappoint him.

Buonanotte opened the second by launching over the bar and Enciso also got one blocked by Wan-Bissaka after a slippery toe by a mob of United defenders. A third chance of the period was recorded when Diogo Dalot got a pass that was intercepted by Mitoma, whose dart into the area was rounded off with a shot wide of the near post. Within minutes he was through again, albeit at a tight angle, and missed De Gea.

If his finishing improves he could be the next Brighton player to land an attack. In fact, even if not, there will be plenty of admirers and no lack of temptation.

With mounting pressure, De Zerbi looked for fresh impetus by using March, whose missed penalty was the deciding act of the Cup semi-final. He also grew increasingly frustrated with Marriner, who spared Casemiro a second yellow for going ground on a foul on Caicedo and then overlooked a second penalty appeal from Mitoma.

That kicked the tension up a notch and it escalated as Lewis Dunk and Antony squared off and crashed into each other. Marriner handed out yellow cards to everyone, but threatened to lose control.

Still, the opportunities came. March and Mac Allister got close. Adam Webster also did that in stoppage time. Nothing has survived. Until Marriner made the trip to the VAR monitor and Mac Allister took revenge for Wembley.