Man United defeated local rivals City at Wembley in the FA Cup final amid speculation around Ten Hag’s future at the club.
No one quite knows how they did it. Having narrowly defeated Liverpool in memorable fashion in extra time in the quarterfinals, and then needing a penalty shootout to get past Championship side Coventry in the semifinals (after giving up a three-goal lead, no less) Manchester United are somehow the FA Cup winners.
It’s all the more unbelievable because they managed to win the final against a City side that had looked unstoppable in recent weeks as it charged to a fourth consecutive English Premier League title. The expectation was that this would be an additional domestic trophy to round off another dominant season for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Instead, as against Liverpool, United found something when nothing was expected or predicted of them. The odds prior to the game of them winning were those that might be expected of a lower division team facing Premier League opposition.
Scott McTominay spoke on the pitch after the game of the team never lacking self-belief, despite the lack of belief in them from outside. It would be easy for them to do so after a below-par season in which they finished eighth in the league with a negative goal difference.
But United also had a plan to go with this belief, put in place by Erik ten Hag, using the wide players as attacking threats.
As Ten Hag embraced his players one by one after the final whistle, some of it felt like a goodbye and thanks for the memories amid the celebrations after it emerged that the Dutchman would leave the club after this game.
There was a big cheer for the manager as he climbed the stairs, leading his team to collect their winners medals, touching the cup as he walked past it, before captain Bruno Fernandes lifted the trophy which glistened amid confetti in the late afternoon London sun.
“The FA Cup was absolutely one on my bucket list,” Ten Hag said after the game. “It’s such a huge trophy, and I’m so happy we won this trophy with these players and staff—a real team performance.
