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Sunderland’s Most Memorable Games at Manchester United

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports | By Barry Dixon | Last updated Oct 1, 2025 5:32 PM ET

This weekend, Sunderland travel to the home of Manchester United, Old Trafford, for the first time since 2017. The Black Cats hit the lows of League One in that time but have clawed their way back and now sit fifth in the Premier League, nine places above the Red Devils and their under-pressure manager, Ruben Amorim.

Here we take a look back at just some of the memorable encounters that the two have had at the Theatre of Dreams down the years.

Sunderland’s Most Memorable Games at Manchester United

Premier League, May 3rd 2014: Manchester United 0-1 Sunderland

Sunderland took a massive step towards securing their Premier League status with a first win at Old Trafford since 1968. Seb Larson’s well-taken first-half goal was enough to give the Black Cats the three points and almost ensure their great escape was complete. The visitors came into the game full of confidence after recently drawing at Manchester City and defeating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

United, the reigning Premier League champions, were a shadow of their former selves; however, that should take nothing away from Sunderland, who came to Old Trafford with a job to do and did so impressively. Conor Wickham crossed the ball to the edge of the box for the arriving Larso,n who calmly volleyed the ball into the far corner of the goal. United rarely troubled the visitors and were lucky to only lose by one goal.

League Cup Semi-Final, January 22nd 2014: Manchester United 2-1 Sunderland

Nine thousand fans travelled to Manchester for this League Cup semi-final second leg, and each one of them, along with those watching at home, went through every emotion possible across 120 minutes and a penalty shootout. Sunderland went into the game with a 2-1 advantage from the first leg, but many expected United to emerge victorious at Old Trafford.

Eight minutes before halftime, Jonny Evans put the Red Devils ahead on the night and made the tie level on aggregate. After the break, it was Sunderland who had the better of the chances to win the game, but they almost lost it with the final kick of the game when a goalward-bound free kick from United’s Januzaj was well saved from Sunderland’s keeper Vito Mannone.

In extra time, Phil Bardsley’s shot was misjudged by David de Gea in the United goal, and he let the shot slip through his fingers. It looked as though Sunderland had booked their place in the final and were just two minutes from doing so; however, they just couldn’t hang on, and United scored on 120 minutes to take the game to a penalty shootout.

Ten penalties were taken, but just three were scored in what was a nail-biting end to a nail-biting cup tie. Mannone was the star for Sunderland as he saved two penalties, including the all-important final kick.

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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