- Home >
- Soccer >
- FA Cup >
- Cunha eyeing Wembley final after leading Wolves to FA Cup win over Blackburn
Cunha eyeing Wembley final after leading Wolves to FA Cup win over Blackburn
Matheus Cunha starred for Wolves in their FA Cup win over Blackburn Rovers and is hoping to lead his side to the final of the competition.
Matheus Cunha has his eyes set on reaching the FA Cup final at Wembley after his goal helped Wolves to a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in their fourth-round clash on Sunday.
Two quickfire strikes from Cunha and Joao Gomes in the first half saw Vitor Pereira's side progress to the next round in an entertaining contest at Ewood Park.
Blackburn thought they had edged ahead when Dominic Hyam headed home John Buckley's free-kick, but the goal was ruled out for a tight offside against the Rovers defender.
But Wolves were ahead in the 33rd minute when Todd Cantwell lost possession cheaply, allowing Hwang Hee-Chan to tee up Gomes, who squeezed the ball under Balazs Toth.
And just over a minute later, the visitors doubled their advantage when Nelson Semedo's neat pass was ruthlessly dispatched by Cunha into the bottom left corner.
Indeed, just 100 seconds had elapsed between Wolves' first and second goals at Ewood Park, with that quickfire double handing John Eustace's side an uphill task.
Wolves continued to push for a third after the break, with debutant Marshall Munetsi and Pablo Sarabia firing over in the closing stages with the best of their opportunities.
Makhtar Gueye came closest to reducing the deficit for Rovers, with his stinging effort palmed away by Sam Johnstone, but the damage had been done in the first half.
Wolves have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup in consecutive seasons for the first time since doing so in 1993-94 and 1994-95.
They reached the quarter-finals of the competition last year, their best FA Cup run since 2018-19 when they fell at the semi-final stage, and Cunha is aiming to go one better this time around.
"It is a pleasure to score and to play with these guys," Cunha said.
"Of course, in this competition, everyone is dreaming of going to Wembley one day. Our focus is to win, and hopefully, the dream comes to play there with Wolves."
Since the start of last season, Cunha has scored 26 goals in all competitions for Wolves, 11 more than anyone else, while he has netted in each of his last three FA Cup games.
For Blackburn, meanwhile, much of the pre-match build-up surrounded the future of manager John Eustace, who has been linked with a return to former club Derby County.
Eustace has surpassed expectations this season, with Rovers sitting sixth in the Championship, and Eustace said conversations about his future would be had with the owners.
"I will have to see exactly what's happened and talk to the owners," he told the Lancashire Telegraph.
"At the moment, I will be in charge of the West Brom game on Wednesday. I have come here to help rebuild it and help push up the league. I have been very happy here.
"I am away from my family a lot, I am working my socks off, as everyone is, to make sure Blackburn are very competitive and stay in a healthy position.
"When I came here, we were on the way down. Now we're on the way up. We've had some disappointing results, but it's something I will have to discuss with the owners.
"I have been linked with jobs all season. That's down to the efforts of the group. It's part of the job."