Manchester United 2 Newcastle United 0
There are differing definitions of a trophy drought at these two clubs. It felt like a long time ago that Manchester United were winning this competition and the Europa League under José Mourinho. It was 2017 and the barren years since then had added up to the club’s longest sequence without silverware since the early 1980s.
Newcastle, of course, can see that and reraise it by 54 years – the chasm to their famous Fairs Cup triumph. This final, Newcastle’s first since the FA Cup of 1999 when they took on the same opponents, was all about who could chart fresh territory, who could own the occasion. As in 1999, it was the Reds – and by the same scoreline.
Erik ten Hag was the picture of elation when it was all over, jigging with his players, his Old Trafford revolution given the hard edge that he has demanded. And, really, it was all pretty comfortable after a two-goal blitz towards the end of the first half.
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The excellent Casemiro got the first with a towering header, Marcus Rashford forced the second with a shot that deflected off Sven Botman to wrong-foot the unfortunate Loris Karius and United were quite happy for the second half to be a non-event, a gradual countdown to glory.
Ten Hag’s team have lost only once in 21 matches, they are alive and kicking in the last 16 of both the FA Cup and Europa League and they are sitting pretty in third place in the Premier League. It is looking and feeling extremely sweet. And if Avram Glazer, who was present here, and his family could now leave as the United fans demanded throughout ...
Newcastle have been transformed since the Saudi Arabia-led takeover of October 2021, Eddie Howe benefiting from a £240 million spend on new players and shaping a team of steel and spirit, one that has proved extremely difficult to break down. But the cold truth was that after a decent start, they went with a whimper.
It had been quite the scene 15 minutes or so before kick-off, the Newcastle end packed, the black and white flags waving. The other half of the stadium took its time to fill up, the red and whites seemingly a little more relaxed, au fait with it all. There was no co-ordinated pre-match display from them. But it was their fans who could stick around for what mattered – the trophy presentation.
United’s identity has been getting clearer under Ten Hag. They were happy to invite Newcastle on to them at the outset or try to win possession high up. The bottom line was that they wanted to transition quickly and the pick of a limited crop of early chances was theirs, Wout Weghorst blowing a decent opening when he failed to connect properly with a breaking ball inside the area.
Newcastle had started with an intensity to match their support and plenty of possession, Bruno Guimarães showing up in the middle of the pitch; Allan Saint-Maximin flickering on the left, drawing a yellow card foul from Diego Dalot.
It was Saint-Maximin who almost drew first blood, tricking past Dalot beyond the far post after a smart Newcastle move and cutting inside. David de Gea had his angles correct and he blocked. Dalot would be replaced at half-time. It was United who did unlock the game and it was frustrating from a Newcastle point of view that Casemiro’s fifth goal of an already stellar season came from a set-piece.
Luke Shaw whipped over a free-kick from the left after Rashford had been barged over by Guimarães – Newcastle did not like the decision – and Casemiro achieved the not insignificant feat of getting in between Fabian Schär and Botman to power home.
Newcastle’s heads spun and their opponents completed the devastating one-two punch with the help of a deflection and an iffy moment from Karius. The Newcastle third-choice goalkeeper’s story had been well told in the build-up and many wanted him to excel; to recover from the concussion-induced nightmare on his last appearance for an English club – Liverpool’s Champions League final loss to Real Madrid in 2018.
But when Rashford, passed fit after an injury scare, surged on to a Weghorst pass up the inside left channel and saw a mis-hit shot deflect off Botman, Karius could not react in time. The ball looped up and spun past his overstretched hand.
Dan Burn might have pulled one back in first-half stoppage-time, heading wide after Kieran Trippier had worked a short corner. The game was sliding away from Newcastle and Joelinton felt the red mist descend after Antony had taken the mickey out of Burn, swiping at the winger and then dragging down Casemiro. He was booked.
Howe went for broke at the start of the second half, introducing Alexander Isak up front alongside Callum Wilson. The atmosphere in the Newcastle end of the ground had shifted markedly. They needed something. For United, it was just about maintaining their defensive shape and making their tackles.
Saint-Maximin continued to look like Newcastle’s most likely creator and that said a lot, given how erratic he was. He called for more noise from the black-and-white hordes after winning a corner; whipping them up, partly out of frustration. Joelinton would later do the same thing after seeing a shot blocked.
And yet from that corner won by Saint-Maximin, Trippier ended up going back to Burn who was almost on the halfway line. Burn hit a raking diagonal back to Trippier, who lost possession and the club’s fans scratched their heads.
Apart from late efforts from the substitute, Jacob Murphy, and Joelinton, Newcastle offered little. It was United who were the likelier scorers on the break, with Rashford and Bruno Fernandes denied by Karius. – Guardian
