Wout Weghorst has revealed he urged his Manchester United team-mates to put Brighton off during their FA Cup semi-final penalty shootout.
United booked their place in the final, where they will face Manchester City at the start of June, with a shootout win over the Seagulls after the last-four clash remained goalless through 120 minutes.
Players on both sides held their nerve, with 11 penalties scored by the time Weghorst made the walk to the spot, knowing he had to score to extend sudden death and deny Brighton victory.
The Dutchman did just that, and after finding the back of the net then grabbed the ball and walked towards Solly March. Weghorst kissed the ball and said a few words to the Brighton man before handing it over, and March then blazed his penalty over the bar to allow Victor Lindelof to step up and win the match.
Reflecting on the mind games with March, Weghorst admitted he felt bad after the match, despite unsuccessfully trying to get his team-mates to act in a similar way earlier in the shootout.
“I already said to do it before we started, to some of our guys but nobody did it,” Weghorst said.
“I scored, saw the ball and tried to get a few advantages to maybe help us win it. I walked to him and said some things but at the end, I went to him because I felt sorry because that was the one that missed.
“I just tried everything and normally it doesn’t make a difference but maybe it did.”
