Losing the FA Cup final to rival Manchester City was not the season finale Manchester United had dreamed of, and manager Erik ten Hag said his team was broken after its 2-1 defeat on Saturday.
The first-ever FA Cup final between the two Manchester teams ended with the trophy heading to the blue side of the city.
“We are broken, disappointed of course,” Ten Hag said. “So it’s tough. But I am proud of my team.”
United captured the Carabao Cup in late February and at one point was flirting with the Premier League lead, leading to talks of a potential domestic treble in a fantastic debut season for Ten Hag.
While United finished third in the Premier League, its manager summed up the season as a success.
“We had a fantastic season,” Ten Hag said. “More than we could have imagined at the start. We finished third, qualified for the Champions League and we won a trophy and made another final. I am very happy with my team.”
United could have killed off City’s hopes of becoming only the second English team to complete the treble of lifting the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trophies in the same season.
Instead, Saturday’s result means that City is now one win away from emulating United’s 1999 feat that was achieved under Alex Ferguson’s watch.
Ten Hag was not pleased on Saturday with the two “soft” goals conceded to Ilkay Gundogan, who netted both with left-footed volleys, including the first one just 12 seconds after kick-off.
“But we fought ourselves (into) the game,” the Dutch manager said. “There was a great spirit. We were really hard to beat and I think also, in the end, we could have made the equaliser.”
Bruno Fernandes scored United’s lone goal from the penalty spot. After Gundogan put City back on top, United pressed for the equaliser in the dying minutes, including a goal-mouth scramble in injury time.
“We wanted to end the season in a different way, it wasn’t possible but we are aware that we have made the right steps for the future this season,” Fernandes said.
“Obviously we started the game in a really bad way. But we came back into the game. I think in the first half we had really good spells on the ball. After we had our goal, we had some more counters and chances where we could have scored,” he added.
“In the second half again, we conceded an early goal, another amazing goal by Gundo. After we had still some chances where could have scored but we didn’t and City deserved to win.”
With the season behind them, Ten Hag was asked about what comes next.
“I only have one plan and that is to improve this club.”
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