Aniket Rai
Erik ten Hag explains why he made Manchester United stars watch Man City lift FA Cup
Erik ten Hag has explained why Manchester United players watched Manchester City lift the FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday (June 3).
The Red Devils lost 2-1 in the final courtesy of a brace from Ilkay Gundogan. Instead of racing down the tunnel to avoid the pain of watching your biggest rival lift the trophy, Manchester United players stayed on the pitch.
Asked why this was the case, Ten Hag explained post-match, via Manchester Evening News:
“Show respect, always, but of course it’s a motivation. You have to feel it in your stomach, it hurts. It has to be fuel. “Our team, my players, deserved it but you have to grab it and that is the next step we have to make.”
As always, Ten Hag is keeping it classy. Of course, the defeat hurts. But it happened. What will also be remembered is how the team took that defeat and how they conducted themselves after the game.
Good times ahead
Manchester United have to be bullish, brutal, and unforgiving if they want to reach the pinnacle once again. But that doesn’t mean not showing respect to the opposition.
Moreover, Ten Hag made a very good point that the title celebrations would further motivate Manchester United players. The horror of losing a cup final will only be worsened by the fact that they could be made to watch the winners lift the trophy again in the future.
This can be summed up as a good season for us. We won the EFL Cup in February and finished third to qualify for the UEFA Champions League after a one-year wait.
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Let’s just hope that Inter Milan beat Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League final next weekend. Otherwise, Manchester United players will never be able to forget that they had the chance to protect the club’s legacy (only English side to win the treble), and they failed.
