Manchester United earned an impressive 2-0 win over rivals Manchester City to win the 2023-24 FA Cup trophy at Wembley.
The Red Devils produced arguably their best performance of the season to deny Manchester City their second consecutive FA Cup trophy.
Ten Hag, who was under severe pressure and was tipped to be sacked after the game handed starts to Lisandro Martinez, Scott Mctominay and Marcus Rashford, while Casemiro missed out of the team list.
Pep Guardiola handed John Stones a first start in six weeks, while the duo of Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji dropped to the bench.
Manchester City started the game in their usual dominant fashion as they went in search of an early opener.
Manchester United kept their shape and defensive solidity while waiting patiently to catch Guardiola’s men on the counter.
The Red Devils took the lead against the run of play when Garnacho took advantage of a mistake from Stefan Ortega, who misjudged Joskol Gvardiol’s header towards him to allow Alejandro Garnacho to tap into an empty net on the half hour mark.
Manchester City struggled to get their rhythm in the game as Ten Hag’s men proved a tough nut to crack by denying them the space to wreck havoc.
The Red Devils soon increased their lead through young star Kobbie Mainoo, who finished off a brilliant team move to beat Ortega from close range which made it 2-0 in the 39th minute.
The first half ended 2-0 in favour of Manchester United. Pep Guardiola brought on Jeremy Doku and Manuel Akanji for Mateo Kovacic Nathan Ake in a bid to get his team back in the game.
Doku was impressive in the second half, stretching Manchester United’s back line, and he was able to reduce the deficit in the 87th minute when Andre Onana fumbled in his tame shot into the net.
Manchester United withstood Manchester City’s late onslaught to earn a deserved win which ended Guardiola’s men 35 matches unbeaten run.
The Red Devils have now qualified for the Europa League by virtue of winning the FA Cup, while Chelsea will participate in the UEFA Conference League and Newcastle United missed out on European qualification.
Erik Ten Hag became the first manager to defeat Pep Guardiola in a major domestic cup final in. It is left to be seen if the feat will earn him another year at Manchester United.
Relief For Ten Hag As Manchester United Stun Manchester City To Win FA Cup Trophy is first published on The Whistler Newspaper