Solly March missed 'exact same penalty' months before FA Cup semi-final vs Man Utd

Brighton midfielder Solly March must have had flashbacks to December 2022 when he blazed his penalty over the crossbar during their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester United.

The 28-year-old stepped up to take Brighton's seventh penalty of the day at Wembley after Alexis Mac Allister, Pascal Gross, Deniz Undav, Pervis Estupinan and Lewis Dunk converted.

But the former England U21 international smashed his spot-kick into row Z, handing United the chance to meet Manchester City in this season's FA Cup final.

Victor Lindelof converted with ease as an emotional March was consoled by Marcus Rashford after the final whistle.

In the aftermath of March's decisive miss, footage soon emerged from Brighton's Carabao Cup exit, when Charlton stunned the Premier League side to progress into the quarter-final stage.

After a goalless draw in normal time, Charlton managed to prevail 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out.

Pascal Gross, Leandro Trossard and Moses Caicedo missed their spot-kicks, as did Solly March, who blazed over from 12 yards to give the League One side an advantage.

As you can see from the footage below, March's miss is almost identical to Sunday's penalty attempt against Manchester United.

Despite his efforts from the penalty spot at the weekend, Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi said he was proud of March.

When asked what he said to the midfielder after the full-time whistle, De Zerbi said: "Not too many words.

"I told him I was a player and made mistakes in penalties and it wasn't a problem. We reached Wembley because of his performances. He was one of the best on the pitch and I am proud of him."

He added: "I think we deserved to win. I think we played better and had more chances to score. We suffered in one part of the second half but for the other part of the game we commanded play."

READ MORE:

• Wout Weghorst performed 'kiss of death' on ball before Solly March penalty miss

Brighton may feel hard done by, but Manchester United will try and secure their second trophy of the season when they come up against local rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final on June 3.

Thoughts on Sunday's semi-final clash?

Let us know in the comments.